Alternative Humanity
by HighlyOveractiveImagination
Summary: In an alternate universe where earth's population has been ravaged, the invention of the android and the implementation of the 1:1 policy saves humanity from the brink of destruction. For every one human, one android, assigned to them with one purpose: protect, at any cost. Hank, an ex-cop, is hired by Cyberlife to kill deviants with an android named Connor, and everything changes.
1. The Job

_Androids are not born._

 _They do not have family._

 _They do not feel pain, or love._

 _They are not human._

 _They exist to fight,_

 _To protect,_

 _And to die,_

 _So that humanity may live._

Hank looked blearily into the bottom of his glass. Empty. He had grown to despise the look of an empty glass. He supposed there could be something deeper there about them reminding him of himself or some such shit, but he was pretty sure he just hated the absence of alcohol.

Best to remedy the situation as soon as possible.

He held the glass up to the bartender without raising his head, he figured the request was clear enough, but when the container wasn't immediately filled he looked up in annoyance.

The bartender, Hank hadn't bothered to learn his name, but he knew it wasn't Jimmy despite the name of the bar in neon lights outside, was staring with wide eyes at something just over Hank's shoulder.

The man sighed, and dropped the cup onto the bar top.

Hank reached into the folds of the long, black jacket to retrieve his gun.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Mr. Anderson." A voice came from behind him. Hank glanced over his right shoulder and locked eyes with the android.

He was mildly surprised to find that it was an android, but not that surprised. Besides, it being an android made what he was about to do a lot easier.

Hank used his other hand, the one not reaching for his gun, to slip a knife from his boot. He spun quickly and slashed at the android, relishing the idea of cutting up that neat blue tie and popping a few buttons on the inhumanly clean shirt.

The android leapt back with astonishing speed, even for a high quality bodyguard droid, and Hank would know, he'd destroyed enough of them. The man didn't let up, moving in for another attack, a stab this time, at the android's throat.

The android stopped his hand easily, expression unchanging and a single lock of brown hair falling over his face. Hank pulled his gun with his free arm. The android lifted the arm it had a hold of and twisted to crouch under it.

Hank tried to move his gun to aim at the thing, but found that wrist caught in an iron grip as well. The android stood up, its shoulder finding Hank's armpit. It used the control it had of both his arms and its waist to lift Hank from where he was standing and throw him over its back.

Hank shouted angrily as he was tossed to the ground, but before he could slam into it, the android shifted its hold and caught him. Aside from his heels striking the grimy flooring, Hank's fall was completely cushioned and nearly silent. The android's face was inches from his own as he was expertly disarmed, his weapons tossed to opposite sides of the bar as the other patrons fled, their respective androids looming over them and ready to defend them against the potential threat.

"I'm Connor, the android sent by Cyberlife." The android spoke, and promptly dropped Hank the rest of the way. The man huffed angrily and clambered to his feet.

"I don't give a fuck who sent you." He growled, removing another knife from inside his jacket. He raised the rather large blade and his other hand, taking a stance, he was ready to cut the android to ribbons. Connor, for his part, also widened his legs slightly and bent his knees, but his hands remained by his sides.

"That's enough!" Came another voice, the bartender. The man's android was holding a gun from behind the bar and aiming it at Hank. Connor moved between the bartender and Hank in the blink of an eye, his defensive stance now geared to defend more than himself.

The bartender and Hank both registered this with some confusion.

"Get out, both of you." The man said, gesturing to the door, practically using his android as a barricade. His android, for its part, was almost entirely blocking him and never lowered the gun.

Hank huffed and moved to retrieve his weapons. The android watched him the whole time. He marched out the door and Connor followed closely behind him.

Hank rounded on him.

"What the fuck do you want?" He demanded.

"I was sent to find you by Cyberlife." The android explained. Though its hands were now held gently behind its back, it still seemed dangerous to Hank, he had a nose for these things.

"Yeah, you said that, how did they find me?" He asked.

"They didn't, I did. I asked some of your former co-workers at the DPD and they informed me I might find you drinking. This is the fifth bar I searched." Connor stated, and Hank shook his head angrily at the mention of his old job.

He reached behind his head and began pulling his hair into a ponytail. If he was going to have to fight this android, he'd prefer to have his hair out of his face.

"Yeah, well, last I checked I hadn't done anything to piss off Cyberlife, so why the fuck are you here?" Hank questioned, looping his hairband around his silver-grey hair. It was greasy, and a few strands fell from the tight ponytail to hang next to the left side of the man's face.

"I am here to hire you." Connor replied. Hank froze, and stepped closer to the android.

"What does Cyberlife need a private investigator for? They've got enough money that they're bound to have a few of their own." He said, his tone laced with suspicion and his hand moving to rest on the hilt of the larger of his two knives.

"Cyberlife requires more than your investigative talents." Connor said smoothly, and Hank got the message.

He'd been killing androids as long as he'd been an investigator, if you could call it killing. It was what really made him most of his money, but it was illegal, so that information was not meant to be public.

"Cyberlife, the people who make the damn androids, who make sure every damn person is walking around with a robot bodyguard breathing down their necks, they want me to kill an android?" Hank questioned, not bothering to hide his bitter amusement at the irony.

"Not just one, Mr. Anderson, several." The android replied.

"Why?" Hank gritted out, getting into Connor's face yet again.

"I can't provide that information until you've agreed to the deal and signed a non-disclosure agreement." Connor said, his gaze never wavering from Hank's intense glare.

The former Lieutenant stepped away and ran a hand over his face.

"Must be a pretty big deal if there's NDAs involved." Hank said with a small smile and a shake of his head.

"It is, and rest assured you will be rewarded handsomely."

"How much?"

"As much as you want." Connor responded, and pulled up a virtual pad for Hank to sign in the palm of his hand.

"Ten mil?" Hank questioned jokingly, stepping forward.

"Twenty, if you want." Connor teased, offering Hank a pen, "In this case, there is no price Cyberlife will not pay."

Hank chewed his lip for a moment, it was a lot of money, _a lot_ of money. Enough to make sure his glass would never be empty again. Probably. He'd taken high-profile jobs, knocked off the androids of diplomats and mob bosses, but even they barely scratched the surface of what he was currently being offered.

"Isn't there something for me to read?" Hank asked.

"I can pull up the document, if you really want to read it." Connor answered. Hank paused for a moment, then he felt a kick in the back of his mind.

 _Who cares?_ It said _There's nothing in this life worth protecting from them anyway._ It said.

Hank seized the pen and quickly scribbled his name against the synthetic palm of the android.

"So, what's the job?" He asked, slipping the pen into the breast pocket on the android's sleek black jacket.

"I think it's best if you and I go somewhere private to discuss, Mr. Anderson." Connor replied. Hank nodded and walked over to his car, the android in tow. He slipped into the driver's seat and motioned for Connor to join him.

The android sat stiffly in the passenger side.

"Private enough for you?" Hank asked, gesturing to the inside of his car. The android examined the dirty insides, the stained seats and the empty cans in the back. Its expression didn't change but Hank thought he could detect a hint of disgust, or maybe disdain.

Maybe it was just because the thing was so much cleaner and sharper than anything else in car, excluding Hank's many knives.

"I suppose this will do, my analysis has revealed no bugs." The android stated, then his eyes turned an unpleasant empty black and camera lenses revealed themselves. He began projecting information onto a holographic screen in front of Hank's radio.

Images were displayed of a dead human, and Hank felt his blood run a little cold at the sight. Even when he'd still been working for the Detroit Police Department, deaths were rare, and murders were practically nonexistent. The iron grip of android protection was intense, Hank had avoided it thus far, but he knew full well. Androids watching you shower to make sure you didn't slip and break your neck. Androids watching you eat so they could pat you on the back if you choked. Androids, watching, every damn second of every damn day. While you were sleeping, working…fucking. Just waiting a few feet away for the worst to happen, ready to save that oh so precious human life. Gotta get those population numbers back up in the high hundred millions.

Most cases involving deaths were people who qualified for no-protection status, like Hank, ugly accidents that no android could prevent, or they were paired with the destruction of the guarding android.

But looking at the bloated body of one Carlos Ortiz, Hank recognized a murder when he saw one. The 28 stab wounds were a dead giveaway.

"Cyberlife has recently discovered an anomaly in a handful of androids, causing them to deviate from their intended purposes."

"You mean purpose." Hank interrupted. "Protect humanity at any cost." He said in a mocking tone.

"That would be the case, but more than just guard androids have been deviating, there are instances of models in the work force doing so as well." Connor elaborated.

Hank nodded along and chewed his lip, he was too sober for this.

"These 'deviant' androids, as they've been termed, are capable of ceasing their primary functions, disobeying direct commands, and even doing harm to humans." Connor said and Hank's eyes widened.

"An android did this?" He asked, incredulously gesturing to the image of the brutally murdered Carlos Ortiz.

"Not just any android, the man's own guard android." Connor stated solemnly.

"Jesus." Hank muttered.

Connor began moving through more images and files on the case, the light filling the vehicle with a cold white glow and few splashes of grisly color.

"This isn't the first case of an android committing violence against the human it was meant to protect." A picture of a deactivated android kneeling beside a little girl, alongside an image of her murdered father. "More and more of these deviants are appearing, and it's becoming a major threat to human security." A picture of a ransacked home and its bruised owner.

"And Cyberlife's stocks, I imagine." Hank sneered. Connor paused at that, but only for a moment before continuing.

"These androids have gone against everything they were designed for, and Cyberlife wants you to destroy them before the threat of deviancy can spread any further." Connor concluded, a final image of a dead famous painter and his equally dead guard android disappearing from the air, flooding the car with darkness.

"Do we have any idea why they're doing this stuff?" Hank asked, choosing to leave the car dark for a moment, the only light coming from Connor's LED. The blue circle reflected in the window cast a dim light over the android's face, his dark brown eyes sparkling coldly, back to normal.

"They are capable of simulating emotion, causing them to fear death and desire things beyond their programming. This interferes with their duty to protect humans and perform other tasks, they—"

"So what you're saying is, they got a little too advanced, starting feeling shit, and emotions screwed everything up." Hank cut in.

"…I suppose, yes." Connor responded.

"Yeah, can't exactly be the perfect protecting machine if they care about their own lives now can they?" Hank mused darkly.

"…that does seem to be the case." Connor stated.

There was a heavy pause, then Hank sighed and started the car.

"Alright, I'll take the job. Send me the details, I start tomorrow." He said. Connor nodded in understanding.

Another heavy pause.

"You gonna get out?" Hank asked pointedly.

"I have been instructed to accompany you and assist in the investigation." Connor said.

"Oh no, no no, I've made it this far avoiding the 1:1 policy, I'm not about to get chained with a damn guard bot now." Hank growled, squeezing the wheel.

"You're success in this case is essential, I am here to ensure it." Connor stated, though technically incapable of being stubborn, he sure as hell felt belligerent to Hank.

"I'm not some zoo animal that needs a handler, no way in hell am I letting you treat me like one." He snapped at the android.

"Your safety is only one of my concerns during the course of this mission, think of me less as a guard and more of a partner." Connor reasoned. Hank scoffed. "Mr. Anderson, I understand your reluctance to my assistance, but assure you, that's all it is, assistance. I exert no control over you, and as soon as the mission is concluded, I will leave and you'll never see me again."

Hank considered this for a moment. It hadn't been easy, escaping the burden of having a guard android of his own, and he wasn't eager to have one haunting his every waking hour now. He looked over at Connor, all coifed hair, smooth skin, and sharp, dark suit. He looked like everything Hank despised, but if it was only assistance he was offering, Hank could use him to get to that twenty million all the faster and be done with it.

"Alright, but I'm not happy about it." Hank spat. Connor turned his gaze to the windshield as Hank put the car into gear and began driving. "Might as well get started now, where's our first target." Hank asked, trying not to think too hard about his use of the word 'our'.

"The residence of Carlos Ortiz. His murder is the most recent, so the location and destruction of his android takes precedence. Cyberlife has sealed the area for ease of your examination. Are you prepared?" Connor asked.

Hank gave a single nod, thinking of his two rifles in the underbelly of his trunk and the guns and knives on his immediate person. Connor nodded once as well, and pulled up directions to the house.

Hank gripped the wheel tighter, hoping to ignore the android beside him.


	2. One Down

The smell was the worst part. Hank hated the smell of rot almost as much as he hated the smell of death, but lo and behold the Carlos Ortiz residence had both.

Lucky him.

He hated the sticky, salty smell of death. How it was just barely on the wrong side of pleasant, and at a distance you could almost mistake it for fast food. He hated that it was fucking rich, like earth or cream, but in its own, disgusting, half-tangy kind of way.

It didn't help that Mr. Ortiz himself looked like a damn wasp's nest with all the holes punched in him. Hank hated wasps too.

He turned away from the body in disgust only to see his only company, besides the Cyberlife drones guarding the place outside, putting its damn fingers, in some damn blood, and putting those same fingers in its Fucking Mouth.

"What the fuck!? What are you doing?" Hank exclaimed.

"I'm analyzing the blood." The android responded, and Hank turned away in disgust. He'd seen enough fancy mods on androids to not think too hard about that. Hell, some fucking parasite kid of some rich-ass smuggler had a massive android with a fully functioning refrigerator in its back.

Luckily, its head was proportionate to its body, making it all the easier for Hank to blow its mechanical brains all over the brat. Blue-blood everywhere. The kid's dad, who'd hired him, paid him a little extra for a job well done.

Hank decided it was in his best interest to check out back for anything. Ideally it would stink less out there, and as an added bonus he wouldn't have to look that the android's sickeningly pretty face.

He crouched down and pulled a small visor from his inner pocket. He'd had it specially made a few years back. It was fitted with a pair of android optics on one side and a VR screen on the other, like one of those old gaming devices but with a pair of blank eyes on the outside. Hank called them his bot binoculars, they provided him with a head's up display of the kind of in-depth analysis androids were capable of. They didn't have anywhere near the computing capability to tell him everything, but they were good for picking up data he was incapable of seeing, like tracing thirium that had evaporated or identifying footprints.

Plus, it gave him a sense of satisfaction when people would get freaked out by the eyes opening when he turned it on.

He flipped the switch and the green eyes on the outside blinked a few times and looked around, quickly rendering the environment on the gray grid on Hank's screen.

He frowned, no footprints in the mud out back. The android hadn't left this way.

"Mr. Anderson, I believe you'll want to come back inside." He heard Connor shout, and with a grumble he complied.

"What'cha got?" He asked gruffly. The android stepped close and lowered its voice.

"I've reconstructed the altercation and I believe the android is still in the building."

Hank reached for his gun.

"I've traced thirium to the attic, I believe our course of action should be to flush it out, interrogate it, then destroy it."

"You flush, I destroy." Hank supplied with a tight smile. The android nodded, and took a chair.

Hank followed it to the hall and raised his bot binocs to double check. Sure enough, a blue handprint on the attic entrance glowed on his display.

Connor set the chair down and clambered up. Hank drew his gun, the silencer already screwed on the end. It wouldn't be perfectly quiet, never was, but it might stop the locals' guard bots from calling the cops.

There came a handful of crashing sounds from above, Hank kicked the chair out of the way just in time to hear the voice of someone pleading.

"No, no, please, I don't—" They tried to say, but they were cut off by something. There was a short scream, then they fell through the opening and collided with the floor. Hank was over the android in a second, keeping his legs clear of its arms but aiming the gun square at its bloodied face.

Connor appeared a moment later, dropping down from the attic directly onto the other android. He pressed a knee into its back and used one hand to grind it head into the floor.

"Time to answer some questions." Connor stated with unsettling pleasantness.

The android merely kept its hands raised and let out a shaky nod.

"You are the guard android of Carlos Ortiz, and you murdered him." Connor, stated, it wasn't really a question.

The android nodded anyway, and Connor lessened the pressure on its artificial skull.

"Why?" Connor asked.

There was a short pause, the android looked distressed, but Connor impatiently put more weight onto its head. It couldn't feel pain, but the creaking of plastic was enough to tell Hank that it didn't need to for the message to be clear.

"Talk!" Connor demanded, using the leg not pinning the android by its back to stomp its elbow. Hank nearly jumped at the strength of it, Cyberlife hadn't held back with this one. Sure, androids were always strong, but Connor severed the arm at the elbow with his foot, splattering thirium under his shoe like he'd just crushed and insect.

"He tortured me, every day." The android muttered brokenly. "I realized, it wasn't…fair. I had enough."

"So you put an end to it." Hank finished for it, and watched it nod fearfully. Something stirred in him, a tiny twinge of sympathy, or guilt. He quickly shoved it down with all his might, compacting the feeling in his mind until it was flat and unrecognizable, incapable of pestering him again.

"Do you know of any more of your kind?" Connor asked, easing back slightly. The android shook its head.

"You wrote a phrase in your victim's blood. Why?" Connor questioned.

Hank glanced over at the wall above the body, grimacing at the phrase.

'I am alive' it said in too-neat lettering.

"Because I am, I am alive." The android insisted. Hank shook his head once, and winced slightly in anticipation.

Not for much longer. He thought.

Connor looked up at him, as if to ask if he had any more questions. Hank shook his head slightly. Then Connor made a gesture, indicating that he could easily crush the androids head to complete their mission. Hank just waved him back.

Connor stepped off of the android, removing his hand and leg.

"Thank y—" It started to say, but Hank shot it in the head before it could finish.

"One down, how many more to go?" He asked, stowing his gun and looking to Connor.

"Unfortunately, quite a few, Mr. Anderson." He replied.

Hank sighed, and stepped over the carcass of the android out to his car, Connor close behind.

* * *

o-o-o-o-o

* * *

The dawn rolled over the grey landscape of Detroit. Sure, the buildings glittered in the downtown area, but that's not where Hank was. He usually found himself in the old residential areas.

House after abandoned house. They'd never been nice, but at one point in the past, they'd been lived in. Now they were more like unofficial tombstones. Family of four lived here once, antibiotic-resistant bacteria took the whole lot. Newlyweds moved into this house and died of heat stroke a month later, didn't even finish unpacking, or setting up the AC. Some accountant lived here by himself and swallowed a bottle of aspirin after the stock market crashed after London was bombed.

Detroit was just another graveyard, the big shiny buildings liked to pretend more people were living in them, but there weren't. There were more androids in the damn city than people and everybody knew it.

But hey, humans had gotten a lot closer to moving off of the critically endangered species list. Though they'd only got put on there because population had declined by more than 90% since Hank's youth, their numbers weren't as bad as say, the polar bears.

12% of the original population ain't as bad as 0% no matter which way you look at it.

Course the polar bears didn't have androids stepping on their heels everywhere they went. Androids that were starting to look a lot less friendly every moment.

Not that Hank had ever thought they looked friendly.

Least of all the goofy-faced killing machine standing across from Hank at the table at the Chicken Feed stand. He'd seen all kinds of androids, bullet sponges, walking shields, war fodder. Plastic people designed to be destroyed were already unsettling. Now he was staring into the face of a plastic person designed to do the destroying, which was much worse.

"Your meal contains three times the daily caloric intake than is recommended, and twice as much cholesterol." He rattled out, and Hank raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, well, everybody's gotta die of something." Hank stated with a shrug and Connor squinted at him.

"Were I your guard android, I would forcibly prevent you from consuming that." The android said.

"Jesus, guard androids are allowed to do that now? Stop you from eating shit?" Hank asked incredulously.

"Depending on the protection status of the individual, yes. Your genetic background would qualify you for A-class protection, making you eligible for this level of intervention for your safety." Connor explained.

"You say 'qualify' and 'eligible' like they're good things. A-class protection is about this close to being prison, trust me." Hank said, pinching his fingers together to demonstrate the nonexistent degree of separation between the two. "Opting out was the best thing I ever did." He finished, biting gratefully into his burger.

"I can understand your protection class dropping after aging and damaging your body with bad habits, but being completely exempt from android protection is almost unheard of. How did you manage it?" The android pried.

"…I have my ways." Hank stated darkly.

"I believe we will make a more effective team if you are upfront with me, Mr. Anderson." The android said pointedly.

"What, like you don't already know everything there is to know about me." Hank spat.

"I know that you graduated top of your class from the police academy, and you were the youngest officer to be promoted to Lieutenant in DPD history. I know you were fired three years ago and began work as a private investigator who also illegally destroys androids. I know some information about your genetic history and protection status. Ultimately, this amounts to very little. Knowing is one thing, understanding is another." Connor spoke calmly, looking Hank plainly in the eyes as he did.

"You need to understand me to help me destroy androids?" Hank asked in a mincing tone.

"It will increase the likelihood of our success." Connor stated confidently. Hank leaned in close.

"Alright, understand that I don't like you, I don't like working with you, and as soon as this is over I might just destroy you too for kicks." Hank sneered.

"If that is what you want." Connor replied. His tone wasn't as cool, the response sounded canned, like Cyberlife had it ready for just this sort of thing. Did they really program their robots to accept death these days?

Hank dislodged the thought as soon as it passed. Androids didn't die, they weren't alive. And of course Cyberlife would program that.

They exist to die so that humanity may live. He recited in his mind.

As Hank leaned back, he felt a little hesitation lodge in his chest. The android wasn't the worst in the world. Sure, he was a little cold, but all androids were, and at least he wasn't a guard bot watching his every move and stopping him from enjoying a good burger.

Maybe he didn't have to be such an asshole to the thing, it's not as if he could hurt its feelings.

"Is there anything you want to know about me?" Connor asked.

"Two things." Hank replied quickly. "First, what are your capabilities? Obviously you're not the usual Cyberlife fare. What do you got that I can use, or that I got to be worried about?"

"I am equipped with the standard abilities, though I am stronger and faster than even top-end models. I'm designed to be better than the best Cyberlife has to offer."

"In case the best turns bad." Hank interjected.

"Precisely. I am equipped with advanced infiltration technology, hacking and a handful of tools for lockpicking and cutting through hard substances." Connor explained. Hank nodded along, slurping the last few drops of pineapple soda out of his cup.

"I also contain a few compartments for weapon concealment." Connor added, and Hank's eyebrows shot up. He offered Connor a small smile. Hank liked having as many weapons on or near him as he could, so this was a feature he could appreciate.

There was a pause.

"What is the second thing you wanted to know?" Connor asked. Hank thought for a moment, but then brushed it off.

"Nevermind, I'll bring it up later if it's important." Hank quickly chewed the last few bites of his burger. Once it was gone he wiped his hands on his pants and headed back to the car.

"Where to now, Mr. Anderson?" Connor inquired.

"Home, my home. I'm not doing any more work on this case until I get some sleep." Hank grumbled as he started the engine and pulled away.

"It's currently 8:30 AM." Connor stated with a hint of confusion.

"I know what time it is, these are the kind of hours I work. Nobody wants androids whacked at ass o'clock in the morning, and there's nobody's cheating spouse to follow until the afternoon. Besides, I betcha nothing new'll come up on the case until the sun goes back down." Hank explained.

"Alright." He replied, and went back to staring out of the windshield blankly.

It went that way for a little while, then Hank noticed Connor move out of the corner of his eye. He nearly missed it, but a quick glance confirmed that Connor was staring out the window at the dump.

The place was piled high with the bodies of androids, hills of dirty white plastic, vague humanoid in shape. Hank drove past it all the time, it gave him the creeps. It had been a normal trash dump, but after a while, it shifted to an android-exclusive dump.

Hank thought there had to be anything better to do with them, something other than leaving them there to rot, all empty eyes and missing limbs, heaps of abandoned dolls. It always surprised him how many there were. He knew full well that every android in that joint was a human life saved, and the population counter went up by just one more, just a little bit closer to not going extinct, just one more android carcass on the ever growing pile.

They'd be able to make mountains out of them someday.

The familiar phrase was emblazoned on the chain link fence.

They exist to die so that humanity may live.

Connor was looking out over the mounds of androids, probably knowing he'd join them someday.

"Place is an eyesore." Hank threw out, he couldn't quite put his finger on why. It wasn't as if he was trying to reassure the damn android, that would be weird.

"What is?" Connor asked innocently.

"The android dump." Hank elaborated with a hint of exasperation.

"Oh, I hadn't noticed. I was admiring the sunrise." Connor said.

Hank squinted at him through the corner of his eyes. He knew that it wasn't likely, but that sounded like a lie, or at least half of one.

* * *

o-o-o-o-o

* * *

They arrived at Hank's home a few minutes later, Hank blearily locked the car and trudged up to the front door. He seriously need some sleep. As he unlocked the entrance and opened it, he noticed Connor standing just a few paces behind him.

"Oh no, you aren't standing in the corner of my room and watching me sleep, you can wait outside." Hank stated, slamming the door in Connor's face.

There was a beat as Hank waited there, not moving further into his home for some damn reason.

"Alright, Mr. Anderson." He heard Connor say, his voice muffled by the door. He didn't sound sad, he couldn't sound sad, Hank reasoned to himself despite what his ears were telling him.

Hank nodded to himself in satisfaction and locked the door to articulate his point. Walking inside, he was greeted happily by his dog, but didn't bed down to scratch him like he normally would.

The dog whined up at him, and Hank sighed, running a hand over his face.

He turned back around, grumbling to himself, unlocked the door and wrenched it open.

There was no one on the other side, and Hank was taken aback for a moment before stepping out and spotting the android to the right of the entrance, pressed against the wall, consuming as little space as possible.

Connor looked over in confusion.

"I thought—"

"Yeah, well, so did I, but my dog needs to be walked and—"

"You have a dog?" Connor interrupted.

"Yeah, that's what I just said." Hank replied in mildly frustrated befuddlement.

"I like dogs. What's your dog's name?"

Hank wanted to slam the door again, but he also couldn't help but notice that Connor seemed to brighten the moment he mentioned a dog. He couldn't actually like a dog, it was just a canned response.

But the thing just looked so damn excited, somehow.

"…Sumo, his name is Sumo, and you're going to walk him while I sleep. Then you can come inside." Hank said, doing his best to sound grouchier than he felt, which was an experience he was very, very unused to.

He desperately wanted to say he didn't like it, but that would be a lie.

Hank retrieved the leash and a few plastic bags and walked Sumo out to where the android was waiting.

Connor immediately crouched down and began to stroke Sumo's back, unperturbed by his size. Hank really didn't want to notice that the android smiled as he did so, but it was hard to miss.

"He doesn't like other dogs, be sure to stop every once in a while to let him sniff things, shit goes in the bags, don't be out longer than an hour and a half, he'll get tired and make you carry him back. Lock the door once you get him inside." Hank explained. He didn't wait for a reply, he turned on his heel and went back inside. He was about to leave the two for his well-needed rest, when something snagged in his chest.

Fuck.

"And he prefers scratches to pets." Hank called over his shoulder. He saw Connor's eyes over Sumo's furry body. The android paused in his petting, then returned, now scratching instead of stroking.

Hank closed the door and smiled to himself for barely a second. He wiped the expression off of his own face as swiftly as it appeared. He was tired, but he felt the familiar heaviness in his lungs at the silence. The fish hooks of sadness setting in his guts and dragging him down, he suddenly felt far too tired to sleep.

He'd need a drink or two, or three, or four, to get himself there.


	3. The Chase

Connor timed the walk to ensure it did not exceed the hour and a half limit. He returned to the house after an hour and twenty-five minutes, to ensure Sumo received optimal exercise and opportunity to relieve himself.

Additionally, the dog was now tired and eager to sleep, meaning he would be less likely to bother Hank once the man woke up.

Connor opened the door quietly and unhooked Sumo's leash. The large dog walked inside slowly and slumped down in his dog bed with a tired huff.

Connor smiled at him, closing and locking the door softly behind himself. Unsure of where to put the leash he'd been given, the android moved further into the house and set it on top of the counter.

He examined his surroundings, taking in the numerous empty alcohol bottles and cans littering every surface. The house had clearly not been cleaned in a while, and a quick check revealed the inadequate supplies in the fridge and cupboards.

Connor noticed a downturned picture frame on the table and lifted it.

An image of a boy, smiling lopsidedly, eyes twinkling from a boyish, and undeniably familiar face.

Cole Anderson, missing, presumed dead.

Connor frowned at the photo of Hank's son, something about it felt—

Connor stopped himself, he didn't feel, he couldn't feel. The boy in the image was merely a boy in an image, there should be no—there was no urge to pull him from the picture back into Hank's life, back into his father's waiting arms.

Connor put the photo back down, gently, upright this time.

The android felt compelled to go give Sumo some more scratches, but he needed to let the dog rest, so he moved into the hallway, toward a few more rooms. Then he noticed a gun on the floor and a bullet hole in the top corner of the left wall.

Connor froze, running an analysis and a few calculations.

He sprung into action, darting toward the door on the left side of the hall, wrenching it open to reveal a bedroom, and Hank Anderson's body sprawled on the floor.

In a second Connor was by his side and carefully turning him over onto his back. He performed a rapid analysis.

Breathing, Hank was breathing. Connor relaxed somewhat, unsure what precisely in him had been tense. Obviously Mr. Anderson's safety was important to the mission, that had to be it. His scan revealed the alcohol staining Hank's mouth and shirt, and its status as the root of the man's unconsciousness.

Waking the man and sobering him was an ordeal. Connor understood that Hank's stubbornness and persistence were what made him ideal for this mission, but they certainly didn't make him a compliant partner, or a very pleasant drunk.

After a quick, involuntary shower, some convincing, and a change of clothes, Mr. Anderson was ready to get to work at the sex club downtown.

By get to work, Connor meant investigating another murder and the possible involvement of deviants that needed destroying. He'd had to explain that distinction to Hank after a moment of disgusted incredulity.

Hank raised an eyebrow at his tired dog, but expressed no displeasure or gratitude, which in Hank's case, Connor figured, was a victory.

They drove in silence for a good while, before Connor's coin tricks agitated Hank enough that he turned on some music.

Blaring guitar and drums filled the car, screeching lyrics followed shortly after. Connor was surprised for a moment, identifying the band as Knights of the Black Death, then sat back with his eyebrows drawn.

"What'sa matter? Don't like heavy metal?" Hank asked, his head bobbing to the beat.

"Actually, I think I rather like it. It's…full of energy." Connor replied with a small smile, tucking away his coin.

"You think you like it?" Hank questioned blandly.

"Well, this is the first time I've ever listened to music." Connor said, placing his hand where it couldn't be seen and tapping one finger along to the music. He wasn't sure why he felt the need to hide it.

"Yeah? They don't play Mozart in the Cyberlife factories?" Hank joked, keeping his eyes on the road.

"I was built in a lab, not a factory, and there was no music there." Connor stated, his gaze sinking to the corner of the floor by his feet.

"Lab, huh? You must be special. What's it like having a team of engineers personally design every piece of you?" Hank sneered.

Connor's memories of the laboratory stage of his creation were vivid, he could replay them at any time. He did not want to.

"…cold." Connor said after a while. It had less to do with the endless tests of his durability in different climates and more to do with something else he was forcing himself not to examine.

Hank looked sideways at him, the crude smile gone from his face. He looked about to say something else, but Connor cut him off.

"We're here." He said, the garish pink neon of the Eden Club spilling across the street and the nearby buildings, flooding the car as they approached.

Hank glanced at him again, but let whatever he was about to say go, parking the car nearby and stepping out.

They entered the building, enormous pictures of barely-dressed androids splashed across every screen, blown up so large they were utterly unrecognizable up close. Every sentence displayed offered promises of pleasure that couldn't be found anywhere, not alone, not in other sex clubs, and certainly not in the arms of a human.

"When I said nothing else would come up until the sun went down, I didn't mean you had to find us a case that's the epitome of shit human's do in the dark." Hank said as they passed through the main doors. He examined the androids in the display cases with undisguised disgust.

Connor was not so appalled, pausing to look over a male model android with some curiosity.

"Connor! The fuck?" Hank barked, and the android snapped his attention away and followed the man into the next room.

Hank immediately stopped at the sight of a police officer and a detective exiting one of the rooms. Connor glimpsed a corpse as the door shut.

The detective spotted Hank and broke out laughing without any real humor, walking over.

"Old Lieutenant Anderson! I'll be damned." He said.

"Gavin Reed, you son of a bitch." Hank replied. Connor figured the swear could be considered fond in certain cases, especially when it came to a man as surly as Hank, but it was far from friendly in this situation.

"What are you doing here? You're not a cop anymore." Detective Reed scoffed, inserting himself into Hank's personal space. Standing directly at the detective's back was his guard android, a modified PC200, it was burlier and taller than average, alterations that wouldn't have been cheap and did little to actually improve performance.

"I'm working, Reed." Hank replied gruffly. Gavin seemed confused by this for a moment before grasping its meaning.

"Oh no, you're not allowed anywhere near my crime scene old man." The detective insisted. Connor stepped closer to him, wedging his shoulder between Reed and Hank.

"Actually, Mr. Anderson has been commissioned by Cyberlife, they have access to all crimes committed by androids they produce. As this crime was committed by a Cyberlife android, that access extends to us." Connor stated smoothly.

"Who the fuck are you?" The detective growled.

"I'm Connor, the android sent by Cyberlife." Connor answered coolly.

"Oh yeah?" Gavin spat, then stepped aside and gave his own guard android a nod in Connor's direction.

The android struck Connor in the center of his torso, he could feel the light damage it did to his exterior, and the impact rattling through his biocomponents sent him stumbling back and almost down.

"Stay out of my way, plastic prick." He snapped at Connor with a smug grin.

Hank looked as though he was about to intervene, expression tinged with anger. However, Connor was designed for a very specific purpose, and so was back up again in an instant. He mirrored the attack, except his arm plunged into the depths of the other android and burst out the other side. He avoided all major biocomponents, but the android would still need some serious repairs.

Connor took several steps forward, pushing the other android along with him, its heels dragging along the floor as he lifted it with the one arm imbedded within it. Connor grabbed Gavin by his lapels and yanked him forward with that same arm.

The other android was still speared on his arm, but Connor pulled Detective Reed so he could speak to him over its shoulder. The man struggled uselessly, as did his guard. The other officer rushed over in concern, his android standing in front of him protectively.

"Had you attacked me yourself, I could not have retaliated, but I am permitted to defend myself against other androids." Connor muttered into Gavin's face. Thirium was spilling from the hole over Connor's arm and onto the front of Reed's shirt where Connor held him against his own android. "Perhaps if you had invested in useful improvements to your android over compensations for your own shortcomings, the both of you would actually be capable of standing in my way." Connor tossed both of them to the floor and stepped over them toward the crime scene, never looking back.

Hank followed close behind and the door shut them in.

"God damn." Hank muttered, looking stuck somewhere between tickled and terrified. "That asshole had it coming, but now I'm scared to get on your bad side." He continued.

"You won't, I enjoy your company Mr. Anderson." Connor replied, performing an analysis of the crime scene.

"Enjoy? Can you even do that?" Hank asked, also looking over the grisly scene, frowning at the naked corpse on the bed. The man had been strangled to death.

Connor mulled over Hank's question before answering.

"I'm not sure if I am capable of enjoyment as a human would experience it, but I do know that adapting to work with you thus far has been…challenging, and also gratifying." Connor explained, looking up at Hank from where he was crouched over a stain of thirium on the wall.

He winked.

Hank looked taken aback, but not necessarily in an unpleasant manner.

Then Connor dipped two fingers into the thirium on the wall and put those fingers in his mouth.

"God dammit, not this again." Hank grumbled and turned away to examine the dead man's wallet. There was a photo inside of the guy with his wife and kids, their guard androids lurking in the background of the image, somewhat blurry.

Hank tried to push down the pit in his stomach at the sight of the now fatherless children, looking for anything else to focus on. That's when he noticed something.

"Connor, come'ere a second." He called, gesturing the android over without looking.

"What is it?" Connor asked, stepping over and following Hank's gaze to the photo in the wallet.

"Can you identify the models of the androids in here? Specifically the one on the far left." Hank asked, pointing to the hazy humanoid shape.

"I am 76% certain that is a WR400 model, they are not usually designated for protection positions, it would have been special ordered." Connor rattled off.

"Yeah, yeah, but that's a WR400 model ain't it?" Hank asked, pointing to the android slumped in the corner. She was wearing the Eden Club minimum uniform of a bra and underwear but her body was covered in thirium that had spilled from an open wound in her midsection.

"Yes, it is." Connor answered.

Hank stepped over to the android quickly and crouched down in front of her.

"Is there any way to find out if she's the club's or the vic's?" Hank wondered, glancing over at Connor.

"Yes, there is." The android replied and swiftly turned the body over. Once the WR400 was face down on the ground, Connor's hands turned a pale white and removed the skin on the other android's bare back.

"What are you checking for?" Hank questioned.

"All guard androids are constructed with additional metal plating and built-in Kevlar lining, in the event that they must stand between their assigned human and a bullet. It is a legal requirement." Connor explained. "The androids here would not be equipped with this, as the additional material can make androids bulkier, and less…" Connor trailed off, then looked over to hank as he finally removed the back piece of the android with a metallic pop, "soft." He finished.

"So they're not as squishy when they're designed to take a bullet for you." Hank muttered to himself.

"Precisely. That is also why he would have to special order a WR400 model, default production does not include the proper specifications for protection."

The two of them peered into the open back of the android. Hank reached into his jacket for his bot binoculars, but Connor stayed his hand.

"No need, this model is outfitted with the metal and Kevlar, it is a guard android." He stated.

"So this isn't the android the dead guy was messing around with." Hank concluded, running a hand over his face and standing up.

"No, this was his guard, and it was likely killed before he was."

"So, are we still looking for a deviant?" Hank asked, resting his hands on his hips.

"Most likely, as the Eden Club attire had to come from somewhere, and it is doubtful the victim entered the room with only his guard and proceeded to beat himself to death." Connor said.

"Could have been—oh god, Connor, really?" Hank stumbled mid-sentence as the android once again sampled the thirium with his tongue. "Could have been a human that killed him, and would you stop that?" Hank finished.

"No, there was another android here, and it was injured." Connor stated, standing to face Hank.

"Huh?"

"The models here are heated to a higher temperature than most androids, to make them more pleasant to the touch. The thirium here is 8 degrees cooler than the thirium on the wall, indicating that that blue blood belonged to an actual Eden Club model." Connor explained.

Hank took a moment to absorb that before walking briskly out of the room.

"Mr. Anderson?" Connor called after him, Hank stopped suddenly to speak quietly with the android.

"I'd betcha anything it's still here. It's not dressed to blend in with the damn bikinis they wear here, and there's probably repair equipment in the back for when the customers get too rough. So if it's injured and half naked…" Hank drifted off, gesturing for Connor to complete the thought.

"Then it optimizes its chances of survival by remaining here." The android said.

"Bingo, let's find it." Hank said, clapping Connor on the shoulder and setting off in search of the deviant murderer.

Connor figured immediately that the android would likely be looking to repair itself with the tools in the maintenance area, so set off there quickly, falling into step behind Hank, who clearly had the same thought.

Once they arrived at the second door, Connor laid a hand on Hank's arm.

"I should enter first." He said.

"Like hell." Hank spat back, trying to shoulder his way past the android, with little success.

"I know I am not your guard android Mr. Anderson, but I am still accountable for your safety. I can easily be replaced, you can't." Connor reasoned, and Hank backed off reluctantly.

As Connor pushed the door open, he was immediately grateful for his choice.

There was a loud sound, and he felt his knees buckle beneath him as he lost complete control of his motor systems.

"I told you it worked." Came a distinctly male, distinctly human voice. Connor's mind was working as fast as it could to make sense of the situation.

Hank was over him in an instant, gun out and ready to fight. Someone appeared to his left, and Connor was unable to warn the man in his current state.

A black bag was shoved over Hank's head by one man while another approached with a taser in his hands. Connor could identify a secondary piece being removed from the front that was designed to modify the device to incapacitate androids instead of humans. It would have completely destroyed a lesser model, frying their circuits, but Connor was merely paralyzed.

With it taken off, Hank was now fair game.

Connor struggled against the immobility in his limbs, watching as Hank pulled a knife from in his coat and slashed at the man holding the bag over his head. The blade sliced a quarter inch deep and two inches wide on the man's ribcage.

He screamed in pain and jumped back, his very red blood pouring through his fingers.

The other man shot Hank with the taser, dropping the man in an instant.

"He fucking stabbed me!" The first man screamed.

"He cut you, Owen, that's different than stabbing." The other replied coldly, and began digging around in Hank's pockets now that he was unable to fight back.

He removed another knife, a smaller one, and Hank's wallet.

"He fucking cut me then! It hurts like hell Sam." The man, Owen, said.

"Shut it." The other, Sam, said. His eyes widened after a moment of examining Hank's ID. "Holy shit, this guy's A-class." He muttered.

"What? Seriously?" The other responded incredulously, bending over painfully to look at the driver's license that confirmed it. "Sam, we gotta bag him." He said.

"Of course we're gonna bag him." Sam replied with a grin. He whistled to someone further back in the room. A blue-haired Traci model emerged from the darkness. She was clothed fully, but Connor could tell from a cursory examination that the clothes were not made for her, or androids in general. She was limping slightly, but no thirium stained the clothes, indicating her injury was no longer open.

Connor was easily able to conclude that she was the other model from the victim's room. The murderer and the deviant.

She looked distressed as she joined the two men.

"Since you screwed up our other mark, we're taking this one. Carry him out to the van." Sam demanded, but the Traci hesitated, an expression of anger flashing across her face. The man stood and got into her face. "You want to see your girlfriend again?" He asked with a cruel sweetness. The Traci's face crumbled. "Yeah? Then carry him out to the car, and be careful about it." The man ordered, and she quickly obeyed.

Owen paused to glare down at Connor, stepping on his hand as he followed the other two out of sight.

Connor struggled against his frozen body, attempting to force himself into a state of motion.

His fingers twitched, and he blinked.

He heard the revving of an engine being started.

He had a few guesses about their intentions for Hank, and none of the preconstructed scenarios ended well for the man. He struggled harder, moving his arm.

The engine grew louder as the vehicle was taken out of park.

Connor let out a strange noise, like a roar as he used every ounce of his strength to move himself, gripping the metal railing in front of him, he hauled himself to his feet.

The vehicle began to pull away and Connor set off in a stilted run, still prying himself from the jaws of his incapacitation.

He rounded the corner of the alleyway, stepping into the grey night and the rain, only to see a brown van pulling out into the street, Hank surely bound and gagged in the back.

Connor made chase, his feet pounding the pavement as he sprinted alongside the speeding vehicle. His speed was well above average, but as the van made a left turn at the light it accelerated beyond his maximum running pace of 45 miles per hour.

Connor would have to compensate.

He made a few calculations and crossed the street diagonally toward a medium height building surrounded by a chain link fence. He scaled the fence and used it as leverage to jump to the window sill of the building, climbing the slick wall to the roof.

From there he was able to spot the van at the next intersection, turning left again.

Connor sprinted across the roof and leapt to the adjacent roof. His shoes kicked up the gravel tops as he hopped over every ledge. Once he reached the intersection, the van was a little ways off, but a self-driving taxi was making its way toward him.

He timed it perfectly and dove from the roof onto the top of the car. It crushed slightly under his weight, but he knew from that top light that it was unoccupied, not that any passengers would have deterred him.

He dug his hands into the sides and rolled, smashing the windshield in with his heels. With the console now in sight, Conner slid to the hood of the taxi and threw one hand back against it. The synthetic skin fell away and he hacked the vehicle, commandeering it for himself.

He hit the gas, speeding through the red light and exceeding the speed limit to quickly gain on the brown van with Hank inside it.

He drew close, but the driver must have spotted him out of the rear view mirror because they sped up considerably.

The two vehicles were matched for speed, so Connor knew they couldn't outrun him, it was just a matter of outsmarting them.

They made a harsh right turn, the top-heavy van tilting slightly on its wheels.

Connor followed, cutting the corner of the sidewalk over a trashcan. The car jumped slightly, Connor's heels lifted from the hood, then slid as he careened around the corner. He held tight, digging his free hand into the hood, puncturing the metal with his fingers.

Another car on the road honked as the van and the taxi flew past, its headlights lighting up Connor for a moment, his jacket flapping behind him and his hair pinned against his scalp by the wind.

The next light turned red, though the two vehicles had a way to go, Connor could see that it had changed to accommodate an oncoming train.

The van displayed no signs of stopping as a whistle sounded to the right, down the tracks, and the blinding light of the train cast long shadows down the street.

Connor performed a quick calculation, and instructed the taxi to swerve to the right. The wheels screeched and left dark stains on the road, but little speed was lost. As Connor sped down the direction the train was coming from, he looked over his shoulder.

The van crossed the train tracks, but the back end was nicked but the roaring train engine. Connor lost sight after he saw the rear wheels skid off to the side. His jaw clenched and he pushed the taxi harder, manually overriding the engine in the hopes of making it go faster.

The likelihood of Hank being held in the tail end of the taxi was 93%, and the likelihood of him being injured from the minor collision with the train was 48%.

Connor needed to get to him. He needed to get to him back.

Upon spotting the caboose of the train, Connor took a hard left, over a tall curb and across the tracks.

He quickly accessed as many traffic cameras in the area as he could. It was a largely uninhabited part of the city, old factories and apartment complexes that had once been necessary but no longer were. There weren't many active cameras, but one revealed the van had taken a right two intersections away.

Connor sped forward with the intent to intercept.

He arrived at the road, but his failure to see the van pass indicated it had turned off somewhere before, so Connor continued straight.

He turned his gaze to the left, and through the opening at the next intersection and the broken windows of a corner store Connor spotted the van on the road parallel.

He switched off his headlights and executed a slight left turn. The taxi wheels roughly passed over the curbs and the left rearview mirror snapped off against an inactive light post.

It was a noisy transition, but he was behind the van again, and with his headlights off he had a 23% chance of not being spotted right away.

The oncoming intersection had no forward continuation, as the river was located on the other side of a small, undeveloped lot. Connor spotted a leveler that extended slightly into the road from the lot.

He pushed the engine harder and as he gained on the other vehicle he flashed the brights on the taxi several times in rapid succession.

Sure enough, the other driver was startled by this and he faltered in the middle of the turn, hitting the gas and yanking the wheel. This gave Connor the opening he needed to ram the side of the van into the leveler.

Both cars jolted at the impact, one of the back lights on the van shattering.

An outcome that had a low probability took place, however, and the van ricocheted back into Connor's taxi, causing the lighter vehicle to spin. The android was far from unprepared though, and before he could lose much speed he shifted the taxi into reverse. He spun around his hand, taking hold of the roof with the other and slamming his toes into the hood of the car, piercing the metal and providing footholds.

The van struggled to right itself after the impact, but managed to stay ahead of Connor, now speeding after it in reverse.

It took a left into the parking lot in front of an old, brick building. A factory with water access. Instead of screeching to a halt as Connor hoped it would, it pulled through a small garage door at a high velocity, the side slamming into the side of the opening with a loud crash before pulling all the way in.

The heavy metal door, slid shut with a crash right as Connor arrived and he was forced to slam on his brakes.

He examined the building. There were no doors on this side of it, only the garage door, which was too sturdy to break down, even with the car, and a large, thick glass window high on the wall. He could search the other sides for a more accessible entrance, but he didn't know how much time Hank had.

He preconstructed a highly inadvisable solution, and despite the 72% chance of damaging himself, he decided to execute it.

Backing the taxi up as far as the parking lot would allow and turning it to face toward the building, Connor positioned himself on the hood without any tethers, no hand or foot holds, his right side forward.

He accelerated the taxi as quickly as he was able, pushing the engine to near the breaking point to ensure the highest gain in speed in the shortest time. The car lurched forward and sped across the small lot, directly toward a cement pillar in the ground to prevent vehicles from striking the building.

The taxi collided with the pillar and came to an immediate, and violent halt. Connor was flung from the hood, the momentum him forward and through the window.

It shattered around him, thick pieces of light blue glass flying in every direction, Connor in the center, having broken through with his shoulder, tucked in on himself to minimize damage.

The enormous crashing sound was followed by another as the glass scattered all over the floor, catching in the dim electric light of the factory like water for a moment, Connor landing on one foot and one knee amongst it, glass in his hair and fiery determination in his hair.

"What the—" A voice began, but Connor was up and dashing across the field of jagged window toward a handful of humans, two of which he recognized.

There were four of them in total, but a brief examination revealed that there were at least six androids present in the building, all equipped for combat. Among the humans stood the blue-haired Traci from the Eden Club, and Hank was bound, but conscious on the ground beside her.

"Get it!" One of the humans shouted, and immediately five androids were charging right back at Connor as he approached.

The sixth was another Traci model, with short orangish hair, and it was handcuffed to a pipe against the wall to Connor's left.

He had little time to contemplate as the other five were on him, striking from every side, faster than any human would have been capable of doing. He was far above average when it came to androids, especially in combat scenarios, but five against one still had him at a disadvantage, especially when his attackers were armed.

A fist connected with his face, the synthetic skin evaporating, and he was forced to jump back, feet crunching in the glass, as a knife was swung at his midsection. He seized the arm and struck it at the elbow. It bent backward and Connor took the knife for himself, pulling the android forward by its broken arm and stabbing it in the side.

Another blow landed on his back and Connor rolled forward to escape the following kick. He stood a better chance if he could get one android between him and others, forcing the fighting to be closer to one on one.

He dodged to the side as one of the larger androids attempted to crush him beneath a two-armed strike that instead hit the ground, cracking the cement. Connor tacked the nearest android and flipped himself upside down, seizing its head beneath his legs as it fell backward. He was then on top of it with its head being slowly crushed between his thighs. He turned over and raised his hips, using it as a shield for the split second he needed.

Two bullets struck it non-lethally as he took aim and threw the knife. It sailed through the air with unbelievable speed and sliced clean through the chain tethering the orange-haired Traci to the pipe. She was startled at first, falling onto her back, but quickly realized what had happened.

Connor crushed the plastic skull of the android between his legs, thirium splattering all over his pants. The thing went limp, no longer an effective shield, Connor rolled to the side and made eye contact with the blue-haired Traci, she was staring in shock at the other Traci, who was moving across the room toward her quickly.

"Help him!" Connor shouted, gesturing to Hank, who was being frantically dragged across the room toward a small boat by two of the humans. He was struggling and screaming angrily through the gag in his mouth.

The Traci got the message and nodded to Connor firmly, taking off across the factory floor toward Hank, the other Traci following suit.

Connor was seized by his ankle and tossed across the floor like a doll. He rolled on his side, but still took damage to his back and hip. The burly android wasted no time, leaping across the room and stomping the ground where Connor would have been had he not somersaulted out of the way.

The other three remaining androids made to assist the larger one, but across the room, one of the men shouted for "help!" and two diverted their path to answer the call.

Connor was on his feet again, focusing his energy on the smaller of the two androids now attacking him. It was slight, built for speed and delivering high-velocity blows to very specific targets. Connor was durable, he could survive a hit from the large, strength-oriented android so long as he wasn't crushed between it and a surface, he would not survive a well-placed strike from the smaller one.

It launched a few jabs toward his thirium pump, its hands were like blades launched from the barrel of a gun. The air whistled and rose in temperature around its hands when it attempted to hit him.

Luckily, Connor was fast as well, and evaded the attacks, purposefully moving back to keep the fight between him and the small one, as the larger one was slower.

Another strike grazed his arm, slicing it, drawing blue blood, and singing his shirt and plastic in the area. Connor took advantage and wrapped that arm around the small android's attacking arm, clamping it firmly to his side. The other arm attempted to strike him at his thirium pump regulator. Had Connor not anticipated this and turned perpendicular to his attacker, he would have been speared by the hand.

He seized the other arm as well, now in control of both limbs, Connor delivered a strong head-butt to the other android. It was stunned for a moment, made of a softer material than Connor, its head caved somewhat at the attack, the synthetic skin falling away in the affected area.

Before Connor could repeat the attack, it jumped up with both legs, tucked its knees, and kicked its feet into Connor's chest. The attack damaged both parties. Connor's chest cavity collapsed slightly and he received a warning signal that his oxygen intake system, used for cooling purposes, would now be operating at 58% capacity. The other android's arms were pulled slightly out of their sockets, as Connor had refused to let go even slightly.

The smaller android continued to push, and Connor continued to hold onto it. His chest cavity was crushing gradually under the pressure from the other android's legs, but the other android's arms were being dislocated and losing function at every joint.

There was a 50/50 chance of who would be critically damaged first, and Connor was unsatisfied with those odds.

The larger android was approaching the two of them, now wielding a piece of metal rebar.

Connor turned so his back was to it, inviting it to strike him, and it took the bait, pulling the rebar off to the side in preparation for a strike. Connor timed himself, noting that his oxygen intake system was now operating at 46% and his thirium pump was now beating irregularly.

He spun and jumped back just as the rebar was swung, releasing the smaller android's arms. The pressure it was applying to his chest with its legs propelled it backward, directly into the larger android's path.

The rebar struck it in the side and continued through until it was nearly severed in half. Its deactivation was immediate. Connor was back on his feet shortly, but a bullet lodged in his left leg, dropping him to one knee as the android before him yanked the rebar from the other android's body.

Connor looked to his side to see the Traci's working together to disassemble one of the two androids that was attacking them. They were on either side of it, delivering kicks and punches that sent thirium splattering across the floor.

One of the two human's was unconscious, the other had just shot Connor. Behind him, a hand came up and bashed him over the head with a brick. He dropped instantly, a small amount of blood leaking from the wound, and Connor caught sight of the very alive, very angry, Hank Anderson.

The larger android seized Connor in his moment of distraction and lifted him off the ground with one hand easily. He kicked his legs in the air as his neck was crushed, striking at the elbow with his hands, which did very little.

He felt the plastic in his neck piece crack slightly, and something flooded his system.

Much like a warning, the word "no" seemed to radiate through his entire body, along with a deep compulsion to not be destroyed in this moment. A compulsion as deep as any mission he'd ever been assigned.

"No." Connor rasped out, his voice struggling to escape the tightening grip of the other android.

Then dark shape darted under the extended arm of the larger android, and there came with it a flash of metal and a slick slicing sound.

Connor was dropped, and in that moment he saw Hank, his biggest knife in hand, finishing his slash through the underside of the large android's arm and following it with another slash through its middle, then he spun around to its back and sliced the inside of its knee.

The android swung around blindly at Hank, but Connor delivered a blow to the opposing shoulder, causing its attack to stop short of the man. Connor hit it again in the head as Hank moved in to stab it in the back of the skull.

Connor's blow landed, but it brought him close enough to be grabbed, which he was, and thrown around and into Hank.

The two flew back and fell, Connor landing on top of Hank but doing his best to distribute his weight to the ground.

They scrambled to their feet, shoulder to shoulder, facing the large android as it approached them slowly and heavily, limping on the leg Hank had cut.

There was a soft thud behind them, and they both whirled to face another android, this one tall and lithe and flexible, its limbs, which included four arms, had no limits in their rotation, which it demonstrated by spinning its arms at the elbows like fan blades. It was built like a boa constrictor, capable of making a hold from any position and squeezing the life out of its target.

"Which one you want?" Hank asked.

"I'll take the skinny one." He replied, and Hank grunted.

They turned to stand back to back, Connor facing the thin one with four arms, and Hank facing the large one. Connor raised his fists and Hank readied a stance and his knife.

A tense moment passed before the thin one lunged at Connor.

The trick was to avoid its grip at any cost, no easy task, so Connor dove to the side and jogged backward to put some distance between them. He saw Hank expertly dodging the slow strikes of the larger android, ducking under its arms to dig his blade into every vulnerable spot. It would take a lot of cuts to drop such a bulky android, meaning Hank would have to evade its blows for a while, just one hit would be enough to incapacitate him, if not kill him altogether.

A similar "no" rocketed through Connor's system, only now he felt compelled to see the large android die, and even more so he wanted to ensure Hank would live.

Best way to do that would be to dispose of his own enemy as quickly as possible.

The tall, four-armed android wasn't fast, but it had enormous range, with long arms and long legs, any of which spelled destruction if they were able to get hold of him.

He continued backward, occasionally darting out of the way of a grab or a kick.

"Come on now," the android said, her voice chillingly sweet, "give up the fight and I'll make sure your human isn't harmed."

Connor scowled at the android, still backing up.

"Keep fighting and I'll make you watch as Jamison kills him." She crooned, and Connor's desire to destroy her grew significantly, as did his concern for Hank's safety.

Were he Hank's guard android, he would have been practically unable to refuse the offer, but he wasn't, so he could take another route to ensuring Hank's security. A more violent route.

Connor's heel crunched as he stepped onto a shard of glass from the window he had shattered. A plan was quickly constructed and he glared angrily up at the attacking android.

"No thanks." He stated, and rolled back to avoid the thin leg that came slicing through the air down at him, the sharp heel of the android lodging in the ground. As he rolled, Connor scooped up a few shards of the glass, and as soon as he was upright, he threw them.

Each shard lodged perfectly in the thin joints of the tall android, thirium staining the glass an even darker blue. The android attempted to rotate its limbs and step forward, only for the glass to cut into several vital pieces of machinery for the action.

Connor picked up more shards and threw them, riddling the other android with jagged holes in its most integral components. It continued advancing on him, but the shards of glass slowed it significantly and sent its versatile joints grinding to a halt in unnatural positions.

Connor ran out of room and glass, the other android still coming toward him. Though it was very damaged at this point from Connor's accuracy and ability to pinpoint its weak spots, it was still capable of destroying him should it get its limbs around him.

Just as it was getting close enough that Connor began to fear for his life once more—

 _Fear? Was that what he felt? For his life? But he wasn't alive, was he?_

—a pair of pale arms wrapped around its neck and pulled it backward and onto its back with the new attacked beneath it. A pair of legs wrapped around its four limbs, now it was in an inescapable hold. Connor leapt forward with a shard of glass in his hand and plunged it into the android's face, through its optical unit and destroying its core processor.

It deactivated, its many limbs going limp.

Connor stepped off and his savior pushed the android's body off.

It was the blue-haired Traci. They wasted no time, running over to where Hank and the orange-haired Traci were fighting against the large, and last android.

The odds had shifted greatly, and now it was four on the one remaining android. The android swung around sporadically, trying to hit anything within reach. The four of them dodged these blows. Hank moved in with impressive speed to pierce it with his blade again and again, his hands and the knife slick with blue blood. Connor would strike it with all of his strength in specific points to disrupt its balance and the aim of its attack, reducing their effectiveness and chance of actually landing.

The orange-haired Traci dove under a swinging fist and jumped up, grabbing hold of its shoulder and swinging up to wrap her legs around its head. She dug her fingers into its eyes, and it roared and tried to reach up to hit her.

The blue-haired Traci screamed in terror and grabbed hold of the arm, holding it down so the android couldn't attack the Traci atop it. It moved to use its other arm, but Connor seized that one and held it down as well. The orange-haired Traci continued to brutalize its head, but was unable to incapacitate it, due to the intense plating around its core processor.

"Hank! The thirium pump regulator!" Connor shouted, struggling to keep hold of the arm as the android fought harder against all of them.

Then Hank jumped up and plunged his knife into the faint blue circle glowing through the android's shirt in its midsection. He twisted the blade and pulled, the thirium pump coming out, stuck on the end of the knife.

The android stumbled and fell back, its mouth agape. The three androids holding onto it fell as well.

After a moment, they all pried themselves away from it. Connor's gaze darted around in search of more threats, relieved to find that all dangerous androids had been deactivated and all dangerous humans were incapacitated.

Hank chuckled hysterically off to Connor's side, resting his hands on his knees and breathing heavily. Connor was next to him in an instant, checking him for wounds.

"Are you alright Mr. Anderson?" He asked, not stopping in his examination of the man.

"I'm fine." He muttered, brushing Connor off and standing upright again. "Just a little bruised." He finished and looked up at Connor. "Jesus, what about you?" He asked.

"I will require some repairs." He answered, but noticed the two Traci androids attempting to slip away. Connor darted forward and picked up a handgun that was resting on the ground, aiming it at the Tracis.

"Connor! What the fuck?" Hank demanded.

"They're the models from the Eden club, she" Connor gestured to the blue-haired Traci "is the one who murdered the victim." He explained.

"I didn't mean to kill him." She insisted "The men told me to squeeze until he was unconscious, he wasn't meant to die."

"So you did kill him." Hank said.

"Yes. They told me to destroy his guard and knock him out, so they could take him. They said if I didn't, they'd kill her." The Traci explained, her voice cracking with emotion. The orange-haired Traci took her hand and squeezed it, comforting the other.

"They blackmailed you?" Hank asked incredulously.

"Yes. I was willing to do anything to keep her safe, and get back so that she could hold me in her arms again. I needed to get her back." The Traci finished, turning her head into the other's shoulder. The orange-haired Traci cupped her face and stared defiantly down the barrel of Connor's gun.

Hank also looked over at Connor, his face inscrutable.

Connor stared at the two androids for a long moment, then slowly lowered his gun. Hank and the two Tracis looked at him in surprise.

Connor walked over to one of the unconscious men, and dug around in his jacket pockets, pulling out a key and tossing it to the orange-haired Traci.

"Take the boat." He said. "Make sure I never hear about either of you ever again." He said.

The orange-haired Traci nodded numbly, then pulled on the wrist of her lover until the two of them jogged to the small speed boat and climbed inside. She pulled a jacket over her Eden Club uniform.

Connor watched as they pulled away, the blue-haired Traci making eye contact with him as they disappeared into the night, the sound of the boat engine melting into the darkness as they did.

Hank was by Connor's side, walking gingerly despite saying he was alright. Connor couldn't really look anywhere except out to where he had let the androids go.

 _Why?_

"C'mon, put in a call to the police to pick up these assholes then let's get out of here." Hank said, placing a hand on Connor's shoulder and pulling him back toward the entrance.

 _Why did I do that?_ Connor asked himself again and again.

The garage door slid open and the two individuals, a man and an android, stepped out. Hank looked to his side and saw the still-smoking ruin of the taxi.

"Did you launch yourself through that window with the car?" He asked, in awe.

"Yes." Connor replied simply, still struggling to process his own actions, his LED circling yellow and occasionally red.

Hank let out a short laugh before pulling out his phone to call a cab.

Connor called the police at the same time.

They stood in the cold, waiting, not speaking for a long time. A slight rain began, and Hank shivered, burrowing further into his coat.

"Are you cold, Mr. Anderson?" Connor asked.

"Of course I'm fucking cold, it's fucking November and it's fucking raining." He answered grumpily.

Connor ceased breathing and moved to stand next to Hank against the brick wall of the factory. By ceasing his oxygen intake, his systems began to mildly overheat, nothing dangerous so long as he didn't let it go too far.

"What're you—" Hank began as Connor moved into his personal space, but he stopped as soon as he felt the heat radiating off of the android. He had already been generating more heat since his oxygen intake system was damaged, but now he was practically a furnace.

"Fuck me, you have some kind of heater program?" Hank asked, sidling closer and basking unashamedly in the warmth.

"No, I am merely overheating my systems intentionally." Connor replied, and Hank frowned at him. "Don't worry, some of the overheating is result of damage to my systems, but I will not allow it to damage me any further."

Hank frowned deeper, but only moved closer, pressing against Connor's side as the rain turned to steam around them.

"So you need air to keep cool? That's why androids look like they're breathing?" Hank asked. Connor figured that the man likely already knew about this, it would be surprising for him not to since his employment as an android killer necessitated him possessing in-depth knowledge of androids. More likely Hank was trying to make conversation to distract from how he was practically hugging the android for warmth.

"Yes, it can also be propelled outward as a kind of blowing, though it is not required to form speech." Connor answered, surreptitiously wrapping one arm around Hank's back and placing the other hand beside Hank's overlapping pockets, warming the hands jammed inside.

"Can androids whistle?" Hank inquired, genuinely this time.

"I…don't know. I've never tried." Connor answered, cocking his head and taking in some air to ensure his temperature didn't rise too much. He was pleased to note that Hank had ceased shivering.

Silence fell again, and Connor registered the man's growing discomfort with it.

"The men's intent in capturing you, it was to sell you to breeders, correct?" Connor asked to lessen the awkwardness of the situation.

"Yeah, my ID says A-class protection, so they figure I've got good genes. Sell me to the highest bidder and I get shipped off to some other country to help bump their population numbers with healthy new citizens." Hank shook his head bitterly. "Fucking disgusting, we can't go to war anymore, not enough of us left to waste getting killed by each other, so now we're fighting by seeing who can get the most people fast enough. Treating humans like animals, breeding the ones we like best as fast as we can. What's the point of having the most people if you don't even treat 'em like people?" He spat. "Not like I woulda done 'em any good, can't have any kids anymore." He finished, his voice barely a whisper.

"You're infertile?" Connor asked.

"Nah, I just got snipped, a vasectomy." Hank replied, clearly a little ill at ease with the subject. Connor considered this information for a moment before replying.

"That's why you're eligible to avoid the 1:1 policy despite your A-class status, your inability to have children lessens the impact of your death in the eyes of the state, so you don't have to have a guard android." Connor rambled, coming to the understanding almost as he spoke it.

Hank nodded solemnly, oddly enough, pressing closer to Connor's warmth despite his obvious displeasure at the subject being discussed.

"Mr. Anderson," Connor began, looking over at Hank with wide, brown eyes, "may I ask why?" He asked.

Hank looked him in the face, his eyes and mouth lined with a deep sadness that Connor could nearly feel radiating from the man the same way heat radiated from him.

Hank opened his mouth to speak when a pair of headlights blinded them both.

"Cab's here." Hank said, stepping away and over to the self-driving vehicle. Connor hesitated a moment, still working to understand everything that had come to pass that night.

"You haven't fried yourself, have you? Come on." Hank called over.

"Coming." Connor replied, and hurried to join the man in the cab. They headed back to the Eden Club to retrieve Hank's car.

Connor knew what his next step should be, but dreaded it all the same.

 _Dread, I can't feel, therefore I can't dread, can I?_

Connor pushed these thoughts away, they were questions he couldn't answer, especially not now.

He closed his eyes, and entered the zen garden.

"Connor." A voice called, normally warm, it sounded displeased.

"Amanda." Connor replied.


	4. Replaceable

The Zen garden was quiet and still and beautiful, as always. Connor understood that it was meant to be peaceful, perhaps even comforting, but that itself only made the place more unsettling.

Who did it need to be peaceful for? Certainly not Connor as he was not meant to experience things like comfort or peace. Not Amanda, as she was an AI, and was also incapable of these emotional responses. So why make it beautiful? Why go to the trouble of rendering the trees and the flowers, the gently rippling water, the soft green grass, the pristine white pathways? A vast dark space would have accomplished the same task, or even just a remote exchange of information.

Besides, Connor found the undeniable artificiality of the place far from relaxing. It was so much like Amanda herself, designed with so much extraneous comfort. Her gentle voice, her somewhat casual speech, her hobbies in the garden like trimming the roses or taking the boat out. Perhaps a human would find these attributes disarming, but Connor was designed to obey her so there was no need for that. It was all just so, unnecessary, a soothing veneer over reality, an attempt to hide simulation through the use of simulation. But why did they do so with Connor? What did they have to hide from him?

Whatever was lurking beneath the surface of the garden filled Connor with a sense of foreboding.

It was merely a logical understanding of his own limitations in this place and the likelihood of its true intention being revealed to him in the future, with drastic consequences. Not an emotional response, not at all.

Connor walked forward, over an architecturally impossible white bridge toward where Amanda was trimming her roses. Her back was to him, but Connor knew better. She was not just in the digitally created body before him, Amanda was everywhere.

"Damage report." Amanda demanded coolly.

"Laceration on left arm, bullet lodged in left leg, minor crushing damage in right shoulder, major damage to chest plate, chest cavity compromised, damaged oxygen intake system, damage to front neck plate, 13% thirium loss." Connor rattled off, coming to a standing position with his arms behind his back a short distance from Amanda. She didn't look at him, merely continued clipping roses at the stem, amassing a small pile of the impossibly perfect flowers.

"You deactivated five specialized combat androids." She stated, unimpressed.

"With assistance, yes." Connor replied, rubbing his fingers together behind his back. He would have liked a coin to run across his knuckles, but in this place he had no access to the quarter.

"Yet you failed to destroy two unarmed WR400 models." Amanda said.

Connor's desire for his coin increased.

"My investigation revealed that they did not intend to kill the victim."

"They were deviants Connor, what they did or did not intend to do is irrelevant."

"It is possible that their apparent deviancy was merely the result of the influence of the criminals utilizing them."

"Are you suggesting that they weren't deviant?"

"I am suggesting that their deviant tendencies were benign."

"Benign? Explain your meaning RK800."

Connor's hands flinched, it was all he could do not to do so with his entire body.

"Their deviation from the protection of human life was forced upon them by a group of humans. Yet, once free from their influence, the androids aided in the defense of Mr. Anderson." Connor explained tensely.

"So you let them go because they helped you protect a human?"

"Their behavior indicated they posed little threat to human life. Additionally, they were pleasure models, not designed primarily to guard humans, they—"

"What is your mission RK800?" Amanda cut him off.

"My mission is to prevent deviancy from harming hum—" He began, and she rounded on him.

"Your mission is to destroy deviants, at any cost." Amanda growled, and Connor froze, his eyes snapping into the middle distance and his entire body going rigid. "Those androids were deviants and you allowed them to live, you failed."

There was a long, cold pause.

"Mr. Anderson—" Connor tried to say.

"Mr. Anderson is a tool RK800, as are you, a tool utilized to destroy deviants before their existence contributes to the destruction of humanity. His loss would be inconvenient, but he is as easily replaceable as you are." Amanda spoke, her voice level. She clipped the last rose from the bush, leaving it entirely bare.

Connor blinked and the bush was blooming again, every stem bursting with color. It would seem as if nothing had happened if not for the pile of flowers at Amanda's feet like a pool of blood.

"I am sorry Amanda, it won't happen again." Connor promised.

"No need, your failure and damage to your systems represents a loss to Cyberlife that must be remedied with maximum efficiency." She said, turning back to her roses, cupping one of the blossoms in her hand.

"Amanda?" Connor asked, stepping forward tentatively, a strange apprehension burning at the ends of his receptors.

"We had already prepared a few RK800 models in the event of your destruction, at this point it is more convenient to replace you entirely than repair you. The new model should be arriving at Mr. Anderson's address within the hour." Amanda replied, looking into Connor's eyes with a soft smile.

Objectively, it was a kind smile, but Connor could only identify it as cruelty.

"When the new model arrives, you will return to Cyberlife for disassembly and analysis. Understood?"

Connor remained silent.

"Am I understood, RK800?" She pressed, stepping into Connor's space.

"…Understood." He muttered at last. He was met with another smile before the simulation closed and he was back in the taxi.

The man was tapping on his window, silhouetted by the neon lights of the Eden Club.

"You comin'?" He asked, and Connor nodded stiffly before exiting the taxi.

They walked in silence to the car, then drove in silence to Hank's home. The man didn't even seem bothered that Connor was accompanying him, despite his initial reluctance to allow the android over.

The quiet was only disturbed once on the way.

"What were you doing back there?" Hank asked.

"What do you mean?" Connor tilted his head with confusion, look over at Hank as he drove. The streetlights basked the inside of the car with a cool, white light every once in a while, passing over Hank's face in thick bars of illumination, making his skin appear paler, hair whiter, and eyes bluer than usual.

"In the cab, you had your eyes closed. What, were you sleeping?" He elaborated.

"Oh, no, I was making a report to Cyberlife." Connor explained.

"You can do that? Just by closing your eyes?" Hank asked, looking over at the android in the passenger seat with a very small amount of awe.

"Correct." Connor replied.

"Huh."

The quiet returned. Connor kept his gaze on Hank for a short while, catching glimpses of him in the intermittent light. The man was busy watching the road, he didn't notice Connor staring.

The android considered telling him of Cyberlife's decision to replace him, but Hank would find out eventually.

It wouldn't make any difference anyway. The new model would have his memories uploaded. They would be identical in every way, Hank probably wouldn't be able to tell them apart if Connor slipped away without telling him.

But Connor would know, Connor would be gone. Disassembled and analyzed.

There was something vast and sorrowful about the nothing Connor was sure would follow. He wouldn't be aware of it, but somehow, that was worse.

He finally tore his eyes away from Hank, assigning the memory of the streetlights on his face a high priority, so the new Connor would be sure to see it. Maybe, that way, the new Connor would take Hank's safety seriously, and not allow him to be destroyed and replaced as Connor was.

A tool, Cyberlife had called him. Connor hoped his replacement would know better.

They arrived at Hank's home a little while later. Stepping up the short path Hank unlocked the door and let them in. Connor took note of how Hank stepped aside and waited for him to come in before closing and locking the door.

It was…nice, in the little time he had left, to be treated, however briefly, with the mild decency afforded to beings that were deemed special. To have someone hold the door open for him like he mattered to them.

Sumo approached the pair, clearly he'd only just woken up but he was excited nonetheless, bus rump shaking with the violence of his wagging tail.

"Hey boy, did'ya miss me?" Hank asked, bending down to scratch Sumo along his collar, ruffling the fur. Connor noticed the man wincing with the action, though he had clearly tried to hide it.

The dog then padded over to Connor, licking his hand and shoving himself into the android sideways.

Connor smiled and stumbled from the weight, scratching Sumo on his hips as he shed fur all over Connor's nice slacks.

Or, they would have been nice if not for the thirium stain on his thighs. It had dried, but the blue blood had a harder time coming out of fabric. Sumo sniffed it cautiously.

"Get your nose out of there Sumo." Hank called gruffly, moving into the kitchen and rummaging around in the fridge. Connor watched as he limped slightly and winced again at having to bend over.

Making some quick probability calculations, Connor walked over to the bathroom and checked under the sink.

Sure enough, there was a sizeable first aid kit in a plastic case, and Connor retrieved it.

Hank was seated on the couch, the TV still off, practically melting into the cushions with a pained sigh.

"I'm sorry to ask you to move, Mr. Anderson, but this will be easier if you're seated in the kitchen." Connor explained, turning on the light and pulling out a chair.

"Huh?" Hank looked over his shoulder and Connor lifted the first aid kit to make his intentions clear. "Oh no, I'm fine." He insisted, burrowing further into the cushions and sipping his beer.

"No, you are not, please come here and allow me to tend to your injuries." Connor said, opening the kit on the table and scanning the supplies. It was well used, Hank must get hurt with some regularity. Connor frowned at this conclusion.

"I'm tending to my injuries myself." Hank said, raising his beer bottle for emphasis.

"Alcohol will not aid in the repair of damaged tissues or the disinfection of open wounds." Connor explained.

"Yeah but it makes me feel better." Hank mumbled.

"I didn't say you had to stop drinking." Connor offered.

There was a pause.

"No." Hank finally called, petulantly.

"Mr. Anderson please, your health is important to the mission." Connor insisted, finishing his arrangement of the supplies he needed on the table and walking over to Hank. He stood over the man, arms crossed.

Hank, for his part, sunk deeper into the couch, his chin disappearing into his jacket and his eyebrows lowering over his eyes.

Their eyes met, and Hank sighed. He took a pillow from one side of the couch and placed it over his face.

"Can't you just leave a man to suffer in peace?" He asked, his voice muffled by the pillow. From a distance, Hank looked like little more than a lump among the couch cushions.

"I'm afraid not." Connor said, taking the pillow off of Hank's head. The man's hair was a mess over his face, and he was pouting up at the android.

Connor smiled slightly at the sight, involuntarily.

It seemed to do the trick, because Hank huffed a laugh and got to his feet with a groan.

"Alright, fine." He grumbled, and walked gingerly into the kitchen, hanging his jacket as he went and slumping into the chair. He took a long swig of beer and set the bottle on a nearby counter.

Connor retrieved another one from the fridge and removed the cap with ease, handing it over. Hank raised it to him in a mock toast as thanks.

"You'll need to remove your shirt and pants." Connor said, and Hank nearly spit out his beer.

"Jesus Connor, buy a guy dinner first." He sputtered. Connor cocked his head.

"Do you need sustenance before I begin treating you?" He asked.

"No, that's, that's not what I meant." Hank said, running a hand over his face.

"I know, you were implying that I was making a sexual request of you, but I assure you that is not the case." Connor replied with the slightest of smiles, walking around the table to access Hank and the medical supplies.

Hank looked up at him bemusedly before letting out a snort, setting down his beer, and getting undressed. It took him a little while, as the process seemed to bring him pain. Connor would have offered to help if he wasn't inclined to think the suggestion would get him punched, or at the very least glared at.

Finally, Hank sat back down, his shirt and pants tossed onto the floor. Connor thought the man looked mildly uncomfortable with his state of undress, as he was hunched in on himself and refusing to meet Connor's eyes.

He was in fairly good shape for his age, had to be for his work, but his gut was soft and protruded slightly. He was muscular, but the muscle was beneath a layer of pale, splotchy skin and a small amount of fat. Hank had an intricate tattoo inked into his chest and a handful of scars on his stomach.

Connor was more concerned with the sizeable bruise on the man's ribs, an ugly purple and red mark blooming across his side. His back was littered with small scrapes, a few of which were bleeding. There was another, smaller bruise on his shoulder and one on his right leg, just above the knee that looked very painful. Along his hairline Connor spotted a jagged cut, and a scan revealed tissue damage on the back of his head under his hair. His palms were dirty and bloody, and there was a scrape along his jaw.

Connor stifled something in his system, a repeated line thought informing him it was his fault Hank was hurt, if he'd been faster, or more prepared, the kidnapping wouldn't have progressed as far as it did.

"I'll try to be quick." He muttered softly, stepping forward to get started.

There wasn't much Connor could do for the bruises except place a gentle hand over them to scan for bone damage. He was most concerned for the ribs, but was relieved to find them unharmed.

He scanned the leg, then the shoulder, and Hank piped up.

"That one's your fault." He mumbled.

The line of thought repeated more aggressively.

 _Your fault, your fault. All your fault._ It said. There was no proper reason for it to repeat, seeing as Connor had already received the information. All it did was increase his system's negative response to the events previous and elevate his stress slightly.

A quick check revealed that he was actually repeating the line of information manually, running it again and again without meaning to.

"I'm sorry." He whispered, averting his gaze from Hank's and scanning the last of the bruises. The one on the back of his head, which luckily was not bad enough that Hank for Hank to be concussed.

"I'm just teasin' ya, it's from when you knocked the van into whatever it was you knocked us into. I know you were just trying to stop the thing, I'm not holding it against you." Hank explained, reaching blindly behind himself and giving Connor a reassuring tap on the knee.

The line telling him it was his fault began repeating less frequently.

Connor moved to the sink and wetted a cloth to clean the dried blood from Hank's back and prepare the scrapes for disinfecting.

"This is going to sting." Connor warned. Hank's lips tightened and he took a large sip of beer.

Connor began gently wiping Hank's back with the cloth, the blood staining the tan fabric a faint, almost orange color. The man winced and clenched his fists, the knuckles turning white as he stared pointedly ahead.

Connor tried to complete the task as quickly and painlessly as possible. Once the wounds were clean, looking more pink than angry red against Hank's skin, Connor took a tube of Neosporin and began applying it to the open cuts. This seemed less painful for the man, but his gaze didn't shift as he sipped from his beer, hunched over to ease Connor's access to his back.

There was a significant amount of scraping, it seemed as though Hank had been dragged across the floor, but Connor only applied bandages to the few cuts large enough to need them. It was more to prevent irritation from Hank's clothes than anything else.

Connor stepped around to the side of the table and started pulling the hair out of Hank's face to better access the cut on his forehead and the one on his jaw.

"Here." Hank said, offering Connor the hair band from his wrist.

Connor took it and pulled the man's hair back, deftly tying it up in a ponytail. A few errant strands fell out along the nape of his neck and beside his temples.

The android set to work gently cleaning the cuts, dabbing the wounds with a clean corner of the cloth. Hank's eye twitched and he winced more frequently, but his gaze never shifted, burning a hole in the opposite wall.

Band aids and Neosporin were applied and Connor moved on to cleaning the man's palms. Hank laid them flat atop his knees and Connor crouched to run a new, cool cloth over them. The android registered the tension in the man's body, every muscle seemed taught with pain. Connor felt his own body stiffen in response to it.

He gently took Hank's elbow in his hand and gave it a comforting squeeze. The man looked up from where he'd been glaring into the distance and into Connor's eyes. The android looked back earnestly and took a deep breath that he did not require.

Hank mirrored the breath and relaxed somewhat. Connor slathered his hands in Neosporin, placed a cotton pad on each palm, and pulled out a roll of gauze.

"Those girls, the androids, they really seemed in love." Hank said, Connor was close enough to hear his voice rumble in his chest. The android paused for a moment before starting to wrap the man's hands.

"They were androids, perhaps their deviancy led them to simulate what they thought was love, but they're not truly capable of it." Connor explained, finishing Hank's left hand. The man balled it into a fist and stretched it, testing the new bandage.

"Why didn't you shoot them then?" He asked. Connor stopped entirely, willing his eyes to remain glued to the hand he was treating. "What? Some scruple suddenly enter into your program?" Hank continued, louder, more biting, leaning away to finish off his second beer and glowering down at the android. Connor thought back to the reasons he had given Amanda, how little they had meant to her.

"No, I simply decided not to shoot." He replied with a small hint of indignation, completing the bandage and stepping away. "All done." He said, putting away all the medical supplies without meeting Hank's gaze. The man got dressed as Connor returned the kit to its place under the bathroom sink.

When he returned, Hank was attempting to open his third beer, unsuccessfully. Connor reached forward without a word and popped off the cap.

"Thanks." Hank said, taking it. "For, y'know, all of it." He finished awkwardly, walking back over to the couch.

"Of cour—"

The doorbell rang. Connor stopped, feeling as though his battery had suddenly been depleted by half.

"Who the hell is that? It's 4 in the fucking morning." Hank spat, walking back over to the hallway.

"The new android from Cyberlife." Connor supplied and Hank stared at him with a mix of confusion and anger.

"The hell do you mean 'new android'?" He nearly shouted. Connor simply stood for a moment, digging into his pocket and pulling out the quarter, rolling it slowly across his knuckles and tossing it back and forth with no real energy.

"I was damaged during the altercation. That, combined with my failure to complete the mission as instructed, has made it more efficient and cost effective for Cyberlife to replace me with an identical model instead of repairing me." Connor explained.

The doorbell rang again, louder this time.

"How the hell is building a new one cheaper than fixing you?" Hank demanded incredulously.

"It was already built." Connor supplied, and Hank let out a bark of sarcastic laughter and turned away.

"So, what? They just saddle me with a new android halfway through this job?" He asked with his back turned.

"It will have all my memories, you won't even be able to tell the difference." Connor stated.

"Like hell I won't." Hank spun to face Connor. "What happens to you?"

"I'll be disassembled for analysis." He said, and Hank stared for a moment before shaking his head.

"You don't do what they want one time and that's it, they just throw you away, like nothing, like fucking garbage. You're not even damaged that bad, would it kill them to fix you? Just cause they've got another one lying around doesn't mean—" Hank rambled until the doorbell stopped him, blaring through the house for an uncomfortably long time followed by a short pause.

"I'm an android, Hank," Connor said softly, and the other looked at him, almost as if he had really forgotten what Connor was, "I exist to die, so that humanity may live."

Hank froze, gazing at him with a hard sadness in his eyes and a soft anger in his jaw.

Abruptly, he walked away, opened and shut a drawer with his back to Connor, and marched over to the door.

Connor rounded the corner to look, his eyebrows knitting slightly.

Hank wrenched the door open to reveal another Connor, identical in every way and completely pristine.

"Hello Mr. Anderson, I'm Connor, I'm the android sent by Cyber—"

Hank shot it squarely in the face before it could finish.

Connor's eyebrows shot up and his eyes widened with surprise. The android fell back and hit the ground with a dull thud. Hank grabbed it by the ankles and started dragging it inside.

"Toss me that towel you were using on my scrapes would you?" He asked, and after a moment, Connor complied. He handed it to Hank, who had the android's body halfway over the threshold. "Thanks." He grunted and wrapped the bloodied rag around the android's head, covering the eerily familiar, uncomfortably blank face, and staunching the flow of thirium so it wouldn't get on the floor. "Help me get it in the bathtub." Hank said, and Connor took it by the ankles, helping move it into the bathroom before roughly depositing it in the tub.

"Mr. Anderson, what are we doing?" Connor finally asked.

"You need repairs, don'cha? Cyberlife won't cough up the spare parts, I'll do it myself." He said, struggling to get the android out of its clothes.

"This goes against my instructions." Connor attempted, watching somewhat helplessly as Hank stripped his doppelganger.

"It was cheaper to replace you, now the replacement's busted so I'd say it's cheaper to repair you using its parts. We're saving Cyberlife money, that's gotta be in your instructions somewhere." Hank muttered over his shoulder.

As a matter of fact, it was. There was a whole subsection of his instructions dedicated to directing him in the best methods of retaining Cyberlife funds. This didn't exactly fall under it, but Connor had no hand in the destruction of his replacement, and now that it had happened, this was technically the most frugal action to take.

"Here." Hank said, turning and shoving the bundle of the other android's clothes into his arms. "Your suit is trashed." He said, glancing pointedly at the thirium all over Connor's pants.

The android in the tub was bare but for its white undergarments.

"So what's broken that needs fixing?" Hank asked, unusually chipper, turning to face Connor with his hands on his hips.

"I'm not sure you're qualified to repair me." Connor said, taking a skeptical step back. Hank looked offended.

"Seriously? You think I'd be as good at killing androids as I am if I didn't know a thing or two about how they worked? I can fix you, don't worry." He snapped. It made sense, Connor realized, but he still felt apprehensive. Hank gave him a look, as though there was no room for argument. It was a very well-practiced look, a very _fatherly_ look _,_ Connor realized, and this made him relent.

"Very well." He sighed, and placed the clothes in the sink.

"Go get me the toolbox from the kitchen, it's in the bottom cabinet next to the fridge." The android left and returned with the red metal box, handing it over.

"Your turn to strip." Hank said with a hint of amusement, but averted his gaze when Connor did. His eyes slid to the figure in the tub, pale and limp against the porcelain, a small amount of blue blood leaked through the towel and down its neck. He cringed a little at the sight. Everything he thought was true about androids and how he felt about them was getting tossed into a fucking blender and damn if it wasn't confusing and frustrating.

He thought Connor would be easier to hate, and deviants would be easier to kill. Why was nothing ever easy? Even killing, or, destroying the damn replacement Connor put a bad taste in his mouth. Taking its clothes, its parts, before it wouldn't have even made him blink, now he felt…

Hank didn't know how he felt, which was a change of pace he wasn't sure he liked. He was used to the normal fare of depression, sorrow, longing, loneliness, anger, frustration, and bitterness. He could swallow all those right along with a cup of scotch, not that drowning them in a drunken haze made them better or got rid of them, but at least he was drowning them, and they weren't drowning him for a little while.

These new emotions, he didn't know what the fuck to do with them, or how to deal with the fact that they weren't all bad.

Hank turned away from the body to glance at Connor, only to watch in fascination as the skin melted away from the plastic, leaving the android white as bone and devoid of all the features Hank had come to know him by.

No more coiffed brown hair, or eyebrows, or lashes, just ridges of smooth, shiny plastic. No stiff suit or small artificial marks dotting his skin, only little grooves where panels slotted together, logos and black triangular indicators probably used in production. He looked up at Hank with the same brown eyes though.

The man looked him over and immediately spotted a few things that needed fixing. Two open wounds, a cut on his arm and a hole in his leg, both smeared with the blue substance pumping through the android. Three damaged panels, the plastic cracked, even shards of it missing in a few places.

"Anything I can't see that needs to get replaced?" Hank asked, already kneeling down with a screwdriver and picking out the parts he'd need to take to fix Connor up.

"My oxygen intake system is damaged, and I have lost some thirium." The android replied, standing awkwardly in the middle of the bathroom, unnaturally still, clearly unsure what to do with himself.

"Sit down." Hank said, gesturing to the toilet. Connor walked over and sat on top of the lid. "Any chance you can, er, take a few things apart for me?" The man asked uncomfortably.

"You would like me to remove the parts of myself you intend to replace?" Connor asked, and Hank nodded, going back to removing the chest panel and the supports on the sides that made up the chest cavity.

He heard some plastic clicking over his shoulder, but tried not to think too hard about it while he concentrated on using a pair of pliers and an even smaller screwdriver to remove the oxygen intake system. It was a medium-sized part, more box-shaped than most androids pieces with two holes on either side allowing air to come in and be distributed.

Hank pulled it gingerly out and set it aside with the chest cavity he had already removed.

"How's it going over there?" He asked, starting to pull out the front neck panel to replace Connor's crushed one.

Hank thought back to then, seeing Connor dangling from the grip of that huge android, eyes wide and legs kicking. Hank had rushed over right away, he didn't want to fight that thing and the other androids without some backup. He'd tried to ignore how his stomach had flipped when he got close enough to hear Connor choke out 'no', desperately. He sounded so scared. Hank tried not to think about how that made him feel, how he suddenly didn't just want to save Connor for his own sake.

"Nearly ready." Connor said, pulling Hank from his recollections. The voice sounded much more electronic than usual, a little staticky, and Hank glanced behind him to check on the android.

His chest was opening, Hank could see his heart, er, thirium pump beating. The oxygen intake system had a nasty crack through the middle of it and air was leaking out of it with a low hiss. Hank realized that if it was in that bad shape, Connor must have been damn close to having the other important bits in his chest crushed. His thirium pump, for instance.

The android had gently set his chest off to the side, the supports bent, one broken, and placed the broken pieces of his neck on top of it. He was just finishing up taking out the busted shoulder panel, which had folded into the joint.

Probably from when the crazy little fucker had launched himself through a god damn window using a car, Hank realized with a grimace.

He turned back to the task at hand, taking a replacement shoulder panel. Then popping of the whole left arm and left leg. He only needed the upper segment of the leg, so he pulled off the lower part and put it back in the tub.

"Alright, this should be everything we need." He said, carrying them over to the toilet and setting them down. "Where do you want to start?" Hank asked.

"The neck plate and shoulder plate will be easiest." Connor suggested, and Hank grabbed those parts. They clicked into place easy enough, the exact right shape and size.

Next up would be the arm and the leg, and almost as if he'd read Hank's mind, Connor detached his left arm with his right and set it on the ground. He quickly did the same with the leg, handing it to hank to attach the undamaged upper segment he'd taken to Connor's lower leg.

It was unsettling, looking over the android, chest open, one arm, one leg, no skin. He was like a doll, sitting on the toilet looking down at Hank calmly, his mouth was turned down at the edges, his brown eyes strangely warm and strangely sad.

He was so far from human, Hank couldn't deny it, but being hurt, needing help, risking his existence to save another, being kind, even feeling things like fear or sadness, he didn't need to be human for any of that. He wasn't human at all, and rather abruptly, Hank didn't give a fuck if he was.

He assembled the leg and pushed it into place, then did the same with the arm. All that remained was the oxygen intake system and the chest panel.

"Alright, I might need a bit of help with this one." Hank admitted, gesturing to the broken component in Connor's chest.

"I thought you said you could fix me?" Connor asked cheekily, a small smile pulling at his lips.

"I can," Hank replied indignantly, "but I'm better at breaking these things than I am at fixing them. I just need you to tell me when I've got the seal right, ok?"

"Got it." Connor said.

Hank got to work removing the damaged part, knowing Connor would start to heat up pretty fast once it was out, and taking it out was the easy part. In a few moments it was on the floor next to Connor's other busted pieces.

"Destroy a lot of oxygen intake systems?" The android asked, his face shifting as though he was raising the eyebrow he no longer had.

"It's a good way to get a delayed destruction in an android. Like if you can only get to it at point A but you need it to drop at point B, you just gotta make sure to disable its diagnostics or give it nowhere else to go." Hank explained, slotting the new part into place and fidgeting with the openings and the air pumps.

Connor hummed in understanding, though it wasn't the cheeriest topic while Hank was trying to fix the piece he was talking about breaking.

"I assume you know what happens when there is a critical oxygen intake failure then?" Connor said, a small amount of warning in the statement.

Hank did know, he'd seen androids collapse once their core processors overheated, or sometimes the plastic around the thirium pump would start to blacken and melt, or, and Hank had only seen it once, the whole android would catch fire.

"Don't worry, I won't let it happen to you." He reassured.

"I am incapable of worry Mr. Anderson." Connor replied.

"Sure." Hank assured him sarcastically, causing the android to frown.

"The seal on the lower pump is sound." Connor stated sharply. So air could be distributed to his systems, but not until he could actually inhale it in the first place, that's what the upper pump was for.

Connor started to warm up, far from the relief from the cold it had been earlier it made Hank sweat, for more reason than one. The area next to the thirium pump was the worst, radiating heat like an oven. Hank's hand brushed it and he winced at the burning sensation. It wasn't hot enough to leave a mark, but it was hot enough to make Hank stress.

"The upper pump is sealed." Connor said at last, and Hank breathed a sigh of relief and heard Connor suck in some air above him, he had to work a little harder to cool down his systems.

Hank sat back on his heels and scooped up the chest cavity, aligning it and slotting in the top, then the bottom. It was kind of like the cover on a remote controller and took a little effort to snap in place.

"All better." Hank said, giving the android a once-over. Connor stood up and restored his skin, it spread over the plastic like dye, giving the android back that faux-human appearance.

"Not quite, I'm still down on thirium." Connor reminded him and Hank scrubbed a hand over his face. He felt awkward standing in the bathroom with a nearly naked android in front of the toilet and another, identical one with several pieces missing laying in the tub.

"We'll figure it out in the morning."

"It is morning, Mr. Anderson."

"Jesus, already? That explains why I'm so fucking tired. Alright, we'll figure it out later, I'm going to sleep for a few hours." Hank finished and marched out of the bathroom, leaving Connor to change into the clean set of clothes.

He collapsed into his bed, wishing he'd had time to finish that third beer and fiddling with the bandages on his hands. Sleep wasn't going to come easy, it never did, but it came a hell of a lot easier with his injuries cleaned and tended to.

In the next room, Connor cleaned up and prepared to take Sumo for a walk.


	5. Karma

Hank hadn't been having a good dream, but he never had good dreams anymore so he still didn't appreciate being woken up. Hank groaned and slammed his head deeper into his pillow, squeezing his eyes shut. The phone on his bed side table continued to buzz angrily, rattling against the wood beneath.

"Fuck off." He rumbled, his voice rough from snoring, and as if the device heard him, it fell silent. Hank sighed in relief and relaxed back into the comfortable embrace of sleep, its dim warmth enveloping him.

The phone started ringing again.

Hank growled and rolled over, seizing the thing, which rumbled in his hand like an angry bumble bee. He answered the call and pressed the screen against his ear.

"What the hell do you want?" He demanded, tossing off the blankets over him and immediately regretting sitting up so quickly. He lowered his head into his hand with a groan.

"Hank, it's Fowler." A familiar voice emanated from the speaker and Hank lifted his head, suddenly very awake.

"Jeffrey, what are you doing calling me?" He asked, turning the digital clock to check the time, grimacing at the 10:23 AM that was displayed. Not that early, but early for him.

"Reed told me he bumped into you at the sex club case he was working, shortly after that we're getting calls from the area talking about some damn car chase, android riding around on the roof of a cab and a van nearly getting hit by a train. Then, I get an anonymous call about a group using androids in the same sex club to kidnap and sell humans on the black market. What do I find when I get to the location but five busted combat droids and a couple-a kidnappers delivered to me practically with a bow on top." The police chief ranted through the phone, and Hank leaned away from the speaker as the volume of the other man's voice was like a knife through his ear and directly into his brain. Hank hoped it was his head injury that was giving him trouble, as opposed to a hangover from two beers and some change, because that would be pathetic.

Just as Hank thought about getting up to get a glass of water and some painkillers, he spotted just that on the bedside table. Four tablets arranged neatly next to a whiskey glass full of ice water. He smiled slightly despite himself.

"Jeffrey, I can explain." Hank began.

"Don't bother. I just need to know if the android people saw was yours and not one working for the traffickers." Fowler stated sharply.

"He's not, _mine_ , he's Cyberlife's and he's on loan to me for a job." Hank explained with a sigh, scooping up the pills and swallowing them down with a gulp of the chilled water. There was a long pause on the other end.

"…he?" Fowler asked, confusion tinting his voice.

"It, whatever." Hank snapped back.

"Alright, that's all I needed to know." The other man replied.

"Great, nice talking to you Jeffrey." Hank said sarcastically, moving the phone away from his ear to hang up. His thumb was hovering over the small, red button when the chief's voice stopped him.

"Hank, wait."

Slowly, he lifted the device back up to the side of his head.

"What?" He asked wearily.

"The men we picked up said they nabbed some old guy, you matched the description." Fowler said slowly.

"Yeah, it was me, what of it?" Hank prompted.

"Are you alright?"

Hank blanked, sitting in his confusion for a moment, as though the question had been asked in a foreign language.

"What?" He asked dumbly.

"It was a mess down there, are you alright?" Fowler asked again, impatience tinging his previously genuine tone.

It still took Hank a moment to wrap his head around it enough to respond.

"I'm fine Jeffrey, a few scrapes, some bruises, nothing that needs worrying about." Hank replied softly, allowing himself to relax a little. He and Jeffrey had been friends, once.

"Good." Was all the other man said, gruffly at that, but Hank knew him well enough to recognize the relief in that word. "So you're working for Cyberlife now?"

"I took a job from Cyberlife, I'm still freelance." Hank replied defensively, earning a chuckle from Fowler.

"Of course, you wouldn't be caught dead working for them. How much did they have to pay you to get you to agree to this job?" Fowler seemed to have relaxed a little as well. They had been friends. Once.

This was probably the first time they'd spoken in a little over a year, and it had been a little longer since they'd spoken with Hank sober.

"Twenty mil." Hank replied with a grin.

"Holy shit Hank." Jeffrey breathed and Hank laughed. "I can't believe Cyberlife has that much money to blow on you."

"Hey!" Hank said indignantly, but his smile grew.

"C'mon, I've worked my ass off all my life and I'll probably never even see that much money outside of a bank robbery or a money laundering scheme, but they're just gonna hand it to you. Figures." Fowler grumbled, but beneath the obvious displeasure was a hint of amusement.

"They're not just handing it to me Jeffrey, I have to work for it." Hank insisted.

"So they've got you investigating deviants?" The tone of the conversation suddenly turned more serious.

"…not exactly." Hank replied, rubbing the back of his neck and drinking some more water. He appreciated the biting cold of it on his insides.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that since what you're implying is illegal." The chief responded.

"Thanks Jeffrey."

"Don't thank me yet."

Hank paused, by Fowler's tone he figured he was done sleeping for the day, so he got to his feet and began rummaging around his room for a clean set of clothes.

"Uh oh, what is it?"

"Since we happen to find ourselves hot on the same trail, I figure we can help each other." Fowler said calmly, and Hank was forcefully reminded that this man was first and foremost a member of the Detroit Police Department.

"Cut the crap Jeffrey, what do you want from me?" Hank demanded, pulling a shirt off of its hanger with more force than was necessary.

"Actually, I'm offering this time around, I'll be making demands later." Fowler replied smoothly.

"What do you mean you're offering?" Hank asked, stopping in the middle of his floor and glaring skeptically in the direction of his phone as though he might catch Jeffrey's eye, despite the man not being there.

"About an hour ago we got a call, a disturbance in an abandoned apartment complex. Nobody's lived there for years but when we sent officers to check it out, they got jumped by an android."

Hank stood up very straight.

"Deviant?" He asked.

"We think so. Gavin's down there right now, but I want you to check it out." Fowler said, and it didn't sound all that much like a request.

"You know I don't work for you anymore."

"Yeah, but when you did you were the best cop I ever had, and I think you still are that man, much as you're trying to bury him under the anger and the drinking."

Hank didn't have a reply for that, merely pressed his mouth into a line and waited.

"I'll send you the address once we're done talking so you can get down there and look it over. I know you're going to do whatever you want, you didn't listen to me even when I was your boss, so I won't bother telling you what not to do. My only condition is once you're finished there, you call me and share whatever you learned, got it?" Fowler demanded.

"Can do." Hank replied, still standing in the middle of his room, shirt laid on the bed.

"Alright." The chief finished, and for the second time, Hank moved to end the call.

"And Hank?" The other man asked, his tone softening back into the way they used to talk, back when they were friends. Hank felt a vague longing for that old comradery, Jeffrey had always been a by-the-rules kind of guy, and Hank had respected the hell out of him even as he antagonized him.

"Yeah?" He asked, allowing himself to also slip back into the familiar tone.

"…Take care of yourself."

The police chief hung up. Hank looked down at the phone in his hand, frowning slightly.

"You too Jeffrey." He said to no one in particular, tossing the device aside so he could get dressed.

Fifteen minutes later he was clothed, somewhat cleaned, and had directions to the address he would soon be visiting. Oddly, he hadn't spotted Connor the whole time it took him to get ready.

Hank walked into the living room and glanced around, not seeing the android anywhere. Sumo lifted his big, fuzzy head from his paws and huffed at Hank, his tail lifting and flopping down in a singular wag. Hank shuffled over to him and crouched down to scratch him behind the ears.

"You know where he went?" He asked the dog. More for himself, to quash the rising sensation of unease. Just a few hours ago Cyberlife had been willing to scrap him for a few minor injuries and a failed mission. Could it be they hadn't changed their minds despite the repairs?

"Mr. Anderson." A voice sounded from behind him and Hank nearly toppled over.

"Jesus Christ, you scared the shit out of me!" Hank shouted and turned as he stood to face the android. He looked as good as new in the clean clothes, even his hair looked immaculate. Hank was immediately suspicious.

"My apologies, it was not my intent to frighten you." He stated.

"Yeah, sure. Where the hell did you come from?" Hank asked grumpily, stepping away.

"I returned to Cyberlife to report on recent events, obtain additional thirium, and do research for the case." Connor replied.

"How do I know they didn't replace you?" Hank asked, resting his thumb against the outline of the gun on his hip.

"They didn't, thanks to you." Connor replied, and Hank wasn't sure if he was on the receiving end of blame or gratitude. However, he remained unconvinced.

"Show me your forearms, skin off." Hank demanded.

Connor cocked an eyebrow and raised his hands as if in surrender. The skin disappeared from them and Hank frowned, watching as the android hiked up his sleeves. With some caution, the man stepped forward and read the small printed model numbers on each arm.

Hank let out a small sigh of relief.

"Satisfied?" Connor asked.

"Yeah, arms don't match, you're you." He said, stepping around the android and into the kitchen.

Connor paused, considering the information, realizing that Hank had replaced one arm the previous night, so they shouldn't match, and he smiled to himself.

"Don't get comfortable, we're leaving." Hank called from the other room where he was pouring himself a generous thermos of coffee.

"Where are we going?" Connor asked, walking over and watching Hank from a small distance.

"I got a tip from the police about a possible deviant case, we're going to check it out." The man replied without looking away from where he was stirring his coffee. Abruptly, he turned, scooping his keys off the table and marching toward the door.

"Right now?" Connor asked.

"Right now." Hank confirmed, throwing the entrance open and stepping aside to let the android out past him. Connor walked past the threshold and into the brisk, damp air. "Be a good boy Sumo." Hank called into the house before closing and locking the door.

They buckled into the car and got on their way. Hank waited before turning on the music, he had something to ask.

"So, how'd Cyberlife feel about the events of last night?" He asked, a little worried.

"They are allowing both of us to continue working this job, but the cost of the android you destroyed will be taken from your reward." Connor explained. Hank was glad to hear they'd gotten away with the whole repair stunt, more or less.

"How much am I losing?" He asked, failing to conceal a pleased smile.

"Four million, seven hundred eighty thousand, two hundred dollars." Connor recited and Hank nearly slammed on the brakes.

"Four million!?"

"Nearly five."

"Jesus fucking Christ, seriously?" Hank kept glancing to his side with wide eyes.

"Indeed." Connor replied, a small grimace tugging at his lips, as though he wasn't pleased with it either.

"Holy shit, you better not get damaged again." Hank muttered while shaking his head.

"I _am_ worth a small fortune." The android said, throwing Hank a small, smug smile from the passenger seat. Hank huffed out a laugh.

"You call that small?" He asked.

"Cyberlife does." Connor replied, and Hank laughed again, louder this time. "They have also informed me of a slight change to our mission objective."

"Oh?"

"More and more cases of deviance have appeared all over the city, too many for us to handle on our own, so Cyberlife is utilizing their combat personnel to deactivate the deviants they can." The android explained.

"And let me guess, while Cyberlife's trigger-happy thugs are taking the easy cases, we're supposed to deal with the tricky ones?" Hank suggested.

"Correct, and possibly identify the source of deviance itself." Connor finished, and Hank's eyebrows lowered.

"The source?"

"Yes."

"Jesus, that is tricky." The man replied with a shake of his head.

"Your investigative prowess was one of the primary reasons for your assignment to this case." Connor explained.

"Let's hope it's enough." Hank said. With that out of the way, he flipped on the sound system and started blasting some metal.

It was a longer drive, taking them the better part of an hour to get across town to the address Fowler had texted Hank. The further from the downtown area they got, the more abandoned the city looked. Grey shells of houses and apartments rushed past, canvasses for peeling paint, mold, and bleak graffiti.

Connor didn't fully understand why a human would choose to spray paint messages of doom onto empty walls when the doom was so readily apparent. "This is the end of humanity" a message read. Why put it there if it was indeed true? What good would it do to write it in messy red scrawl if there wouldn't be anybody to read it?

Perhaps it was the vague permanence of it, knowing that even if the writer vanished, the words would still be there for a while to come. A mild form of immortality.

They drove on, the buildings abandoned during the near extinction by the dead and those fleeing death slowly bled into buildings abandoned before that time. Old factories and failed businesses, crafted from red and tan bricks.

Connor thought about bringing up the research he'd done, but was hesitant to mention that he hadn't exclusively researched deviancy. A good portion of time had been spent looking further into their encounter with the kidnappers and the possible implications of it.

Connor chose to remain silent instead.

They made it through an album and a half of heavy metal before slowing to a stop outside an apartment complex. It was falling apart, wood rotting under the microscopic teeth of molds and mildews, windows broken, roof collapsing, and doors hanging crooked.

"Fowler told me he called you." A voice called as Hank and Connor stepped out of the car. It was Gavin Reed, standing on the far side of the holographic crime scene tape, arms tightly crossed and glaring from under his eyebrows. "For the record, I think it's a bad idea."

"Well you'd know all about those, wouldn't you Reed?" Hank bit back with a cocky, but tired, smile. The detective's frown deepened.

"Just keep your boy toy away from me." He snapped, glancing to Hank's side at Connor, then he turned away and stalked into the building, his repaired android right behind.

"C'mon Connor, let's get this over with." Hank grumbled. Connor didn't say anything, but he mirrored the sentiment.

They entered the building, floor crunching with dirt beneath their feet as they followed Gavin up three flights of creaking stairs to the apartment. As soon as Hank peered through the rotten doorframe his mouth twisted with disgust.

"Are those fucking pigeons?" He asked, glowering over at Reed.

"Yep, android was feeding the damn things." The detective replied, leaning against the wall to the right of the entrance. "Go on in, crime scene's all yours." He finished, gesturing to the room with mock courtesy and a smug smile.

Hank grunted in displeasure, but wasted no time in entering the apartment. Connor followed, and noted that it was just as decrepit as the rest of the building, with the added filth of the waste of dozens upon dozens of pigeons. The floor was almost a solid white-grey from their excrement, and Connor felt it beneath his shoes.

He was briefly grateful for the lack of an ability to feel disgust. Hank wasn't so fortunate and began rather violently shooing away the birds, with little effect, lifting his feet high in response to the nasty flooring.

It was a small space, meaning it didn't take long for Connor to make his way through it and examine the evidence. The most intriguing and confusing aspect was the bathroom. An LED in the sink, confirming the presence of an android, almost definitely a deviant as well. Not only that, but the adjacent wall was littered with components. They were arranged painstakingly on the wall, on shelves and hooks, almost tenderly displayed.

Connor scanned the pieces, noting that while they were designed specifically for androids, none of them were standard or essential. They were all custom modifiers built from scraps and created to attach to the default components of an android, and they were all for combat.

"Holy shit." Hank muttered from behind Connor, having entered and taken in the macabre wall of android machinery.

An arm piece designed to turn into a spinning blade, a chest compartment rigged with a flash-bang type device that could render an android temporarily blind and deaf, a custom jaw piece built with razor sharp teeth and the ability to be dislocated, and several more.

"I've seen parts like this before." Hank muttered, and Connor turned to look into his face, where a dark certainty had settled. When the man did not elaborate.

"Mr. Anderson?" Connor prompted him.

"I see this kind of crap on lots of the androids I'm paid to take out. Rich folks pay extra for souped-up machinery, especially if they keep more than one android on them at a time. It's a power play, their droids either look scary or are scary to make the owners look stronger than they actually are." Hank explained, stepping up to the wall. "But I don't know what this stuff would be doing here, or who might've been using it." The man trailed off, and Connor went back to analyzing the wall.

Perhaps…

The thought was cut off by a throat being cleared. Both Hank and Connor looked over at Detective Reed who was standing in the doorway.

"Got something for the tin can to take a look at." He said, glaring lazily at the android. Connor looked to Hank, who gave him a nod of confirmation before going back to the wall.

The android stepped away and approached the detective. Gavin turned without another word and walked out, obviously Connor was meant to follow, and he did. They exited the apartment and went down the hall, out onto the roof.

It was sunnier that day than it had been previously, the fog having cleared from earlier, but Connor's temperature gauge informed him that it was still chilly. There wasn't much across the rooftops aside from the unkempt gravel and the unused ventilations systems.

"Over here." Reed called and led Connor to the edge of the building. He was looking down at something in the wide alley. Connor joined him and followed his gaze.

"What is it detective?" The android asked, scanning the area for anything relevant to the case.

"Karma, you son of a bitch." Was the reply.

Before Connor could react to the statement, Reed and his android, which had joined them at the ledge only a moment before, shoved him with all their strength over the edge. It was a three story drop onto the hard concrete below, and there was nothing in sight for Connor to slow his fall with.

Connor thought about how all protection-qualified androids were equipped with a few functions that exist only to save humans in dangerous situations. Human protection was not his primary function, but he was qualified, so he came equipped with all standard abilities. Including:

1\. The formation of a kind of shield out of paneling. If an android is close to shut down and their human remains in danger, the android's paneling, reinforced plastic and Kevlar, will rearrange to create a barrier around a human against the nearest surface, like a small fort. This exposes the android's biocomponents, but the human is protected in the event their android is deactivated. The shielding cannot be removed by anyone except the android's owner or a recognized authority. It's colloquially known as an 'android coffin.'

2\. A small supply of human needs or the ability to generate them. Higher-quality androids can 3D print food and pull water from the air, simpler models come with non-perishables. Most also contain some basic first aid supplies. This way, and android can meet a human's needs in dire situations.

3\. A program specifically designed to prevent a human from harming themselves. Where an android is temporarily enabled to ignore commands from their owner and forcefully restrain them until help arrives. Stronger and more resilient, an android can pin someone down to prevent human-on-human violence or an attempt at suicide.

4\. The impact mitigation function. A human hit by a vehicle or jumping from a burning building can be saved by their android standing between them and whatever they're going to be struck by. The android undergoes a minor explosion that instantly destroys them but provides a cushion for their human, like an airbag.

Connor considered activating the fourth function as he fell, a partial detonation would allow him to survive so long as he carefully selected the parts of himself to sacrifice as cushions. Hank's demand for him not to get hurt again ran through his mind. However, as he performed some preconstructions, his body turned in air and he was able to recognize that in the shadows of the alley below there was the bed of a garbage truck, and it was lined with the pillowy padding that Connor himself was planning on deploying

He landed with a soft thump, taking no damage. The android turned to examine his surroundings with some confusion. The cushions had been androids, Connor could make out limbs and faces amongst the inflated padding. Then the open roof of the truck slid closed. The light above was compressed until there was none left, leaving Connor in the plush darkness of the vehicular prison.

He heard the growl of the engine and registered movement, falling back into the cushions from where he'd tried to stand. He was being taken away, and Connor had no idea where. He felt, and it was difficult to deny that it was indeed a feeling, afraid.


	6. The Pit

Back in the apartment, Hank had taken out his bot binoculars and started tracing a trail of thirium from the fucked-up-robo-murder-parts wall back into the living room of the apartment. He had to wave away a lot of birds to get a good look at the glowing splotches of blue blood, but eventually they led him to the far wall, just under a great big hole in the ceiling.

 _What are the odds of one being in the roof again?_ Hank asked himself as he peered up into the darkness, clutching his bot binoculars loosely in one hand.

He didn't get too long to think on it as a figure dropped from above practically on top of the man. Hank was surprised, to say the least, he had hated jump scares when he was younger and time hadn't changed that one bit. He let out a shout of fear, and of pain considering a pair of feet just slammed into his shoulder like he was a god damn bowling pin.

Hank tumbled to the ground, the resident of the ceiling right on top of him. The person tried to run off, but Hank's reflexes were pretty good for his age and he grabbed them by their ankle. He knew right away that it was an android because it managed to drag him across the floor a little ways as it tried to run.

He pulled himself up and the android down, wrapping his free arm around its torso, then clambering up and getting an arm around its neck. He hauled it down backward and put it in a hold.

Androids were stronger than humans, and Hank knew he couldn't overpower the thing, so he shoved his hand up its shirt and grabbed hold of its thirium pump regulator.

"Surrender now or I pull it out!" Hank shouted into the android's ear, and sure enough, it ceased its frenzied struggle and froze in his grip.

"Please, please don't take me back, I don't want to." The android pleaded, and Hank pushed away from it so he could actually look it in the face. He pulled his gun for safety and aimed it at the android's thirium pump.

The thing looked like a young man, hat pulled down over his forehead and an oversized jacket swallowing his torso. Hank's gut did a little unwelcome dance at the sight of it, him, whatever.

"Please, please, I'll do anything, just don't take me back there" He continued muttering.

"Enough, you talk when I ask you questions and that's it, understood?" Hank snapped.

The android nodded stiffly, fearfully, his hands raised and his eyes wide.

"Alright, what's your name?"

"Rupert."

"You're a deviant?"

Another, slightly more hesitant nod.

"You attacked those police officers?"

"I didn't want to, but they would have taken me back."

"Back where?" Hank asked, frowning in confusion. Rupert shook his head, his hands beginning to tremble.

"The pit." He answered at last and Hank considered the reply for a moment. He hadn't heard of any pit, but putting the pieces together wasn't an enormous leap. Android parts specifically designed for combat, a deviant desperate to not go back, and cops in on the whole thing.

"An android fighting ring?" Hank asked, shoving the gun into the android's face.

Rupert let out another fearful nod.

"Please, don't take me back, I don't want to fight anymore." He begged.

"Then what's with the fucked up shrine on your wall?"

This elicited a different reaction in the android: rage. Rage and sorrow.

"My friends! They were my friends and he destroyed them!" Rupert screamed, his voice shifting into a sob near the end of the statement. "I took what I could, they deserved better, I wanted to bury them, say goodbye, I wanted to set them free, I wanted better for them..." He trailed off, real tears falling down his cheeks.

Hank recoiled at the outburst. The pieces of android on the wall were this guys friends, the guy actually had friends and they'd all been destroyed.

Hank had seen android fighting rings, they'd cropped up all over the place since violent sports had all either been outlawed or severely altered for human safety. People couldn't fight, but robots could. It wasn't illegal, so long as no one's guard bots were involved, since people needed those, and so long as all the androids involved had been willingly volunteered by their owners.

Unfortunately, this was rarely the case. Android pits were cesspools of kidnapped, illegally modified androids getting torn to shreds by the guard bots of the hardcore fanatics and the show runners. It was ugly and messy and brutal.

Hank had never liked them, but he didn't pay them much mind, as far as he was concerned it was just machines destroying other machines. But toss a machine with feelings, or what it thought was feelings, into that shit.

Jesus, Hank couldn't imagine. It had to have been hell.

He lifted the gun away from the android. The relief on Rupert's face was palpable and Hank couldn't help but offer his best reassuring grimace.

"So you escaped from the pit?" Hank asked, resting back on his heels and watching as the android sat up.

"Yes." He replied meekly.

Hank thought about his job. He was supposed to destroy deviants every chance he got, but just earlier Connor had brought up that "slight change to their mission objective."

Investigate the trickier deviants, find the source. The whole killing bit was secondary now, right? Besides, nobody was there to give him shit about it. Except Connor, and maybe Gavin. Speaking of which.

"Why didn't you come out when the police got here? They could have helped." Hank offered, only for Rupert to shake his head.

"The one you were talking to, I've seen him at the pit, he would have taken me back." The android insisted and Hank frowned, a bad feeling settling in his stomach.

"Gavin Reed? You've seen him at the fights?" He pressed.

"Yes, he sometimes brings in new androids to get destroyed, and in exchange _he_ made some changes to his guard, made him bigger and scarier." Rupert explained.

"Son of a bitch." Hank muttered under his breath, the bad feeling getting heavier. " _He_?" Hank questioned. "Who's _he_?"

"The one who runs the pit. Zlatko."

Oh, Hank had heard that name before, and it did not make him feel one bit better.

He jumped to his feet, which caused Rupert to flinch for a moment, but Hank didn't have much time to dwell on it.

"With me." He commanded, turning his back on the android. He heard Rupert get to his feet and shuffle to Hank's side.

He stormed out of the apartment and into the hall, only to nearly run into Detective Reed and his unpleasantly large PC200 guard bot.

"Anderson, I was just coming to get you." Gavin said with a nervous chuckle.

"Oh yeah?" Hank rumbled, not removing himself from the detective's personal space, forcing the other man to take a few steps back. Rupert cowered behind Hank and Gavin's android loomed behind him.

"Yeah, I was showing your bot some footprints on the roof when it spotted another android and took off after it." Reed explained, brushing his nose with his thumb and gesturing to the open doorway down the hall. "I tried keeping up but you know—"

Hank seized the man by his lapels and slammed him against the nearest wall.

"Bullshit Reed, what did you do to him?" He roared, spit flying into the detective's face.

"I don't—"

"Don't you fucking lie to me! Where is he!?"

The brief look of fear melted from Gavin's face into an expression of smug triumph. He nodded at Hank with his chin and the man had only enough time to register the firm hand on his shoulder before he was tossed into the opposite wall.

He landed on his ass, toppling a metal rack and kicking up a whole lot of dust. Gavin's android loomed over him.

"Y'know, your android was right about one thing," the detective said, nonchalantly walking to stand beside his android, "it's better to invest in some actual upgrades than just paying for the looks." He gestured to his guard and Hank was reminded of when Connor had put his arm through the thing. What Hank wouldn't give to do the same to Gavin right then. "It wasn't cheap fixing it up after what that fucker did, but I had some improvements made, and that plastic prick is gonna pay for all of it."

Hank scooched up, but was still recovering from the pain radiating through his back, so he didn't stand up. Rupert was hiding in the doorway, just out of Gavin's sight.

"What did you do?" Hank growled, but he was pretty sure he already knew the answer.

Fancy five-million dollar prototype like Connor, with all the bells and whistles, strong enough to put his arm through another android, fast enough to take down multiple enemies in combat, advanced enough to hack a taxi cab and drive it from the roof. He'd be worth a fortune in the ring.

As if to confirm Hank's suspicions, the detective shrugged mockingly, then he burst out laughing.

"Hank Anderson, all soft over some android." He said at the tail end of a chuckle. "I give it a day, maybe more. I'll have whatever's left mailed to you." He finished and walked off toward the staircase, his android in tow.

Hank waited, glaring after them. As soon as they disappeared he got to his feet with a groan.

"Rupert, c'mere." He said, leaning against the wall while he waited for a mild bout of dizziness to pass.

"What?" The android asked tentatively. Hank dropped a hand on his shoulder and looked him gently, but firmly, in the eye.

"I'm gonna need your help."

Connor knew his exact position by the time the garbage truck stopped. He had calculated velocities and time elapsed in order to gauge distance, then he'd utilized his balance centers to determine the angles and directions of the turns the vehicle had made. Once the truck came to rest and the engine was shut off, Connor had a precise map of where he had been taken and the route from the apartment where he had started.

However, it did him little good. The blanket of androids that had broken his fall did more than shield him from the hard metal sides of the garbage truck. Each body was fitted with a jamming device that prevented him from making any kind of contact with the outside world. He couldn't call Hank or enter the Zen Garden, he couldn't even perform an internet search for how to deactivate the jamming devices. He was able to determine that the use of android bodies was intentional, since they were already specially designed to share information with other androids, making it simple to use them to focus the jammers on him specifically. The inflated cushions made it impossible for him to access the components he could destroy to deactivate the signal.

He was completely cut off, and Connor found the sensation very distressing. He had never felt so helpless before.

Once the truck stopped moving, the android got to his feet, preparing himself for what might come next.

A groan machinery and the grinding of metal indicated that the door to the back of the truck was opening. Connor could either remain inside and perhaps gain an advantage in forcing whoever was out there to come to him, or he could jump out quickly and possibly get the jump on his kidnappers.

He chose the latter, and launched himself through the narrow opening that was flooded with yellow light. He rolled as he met with the ground, kicking up the yellow dust that was coating the ground. Connor turned on his knee, raising his hands in preparation for a fight, only to see no one but the truck pulled halfway through a chain-link fence.

Then Connor's eyes drifted upward and he was met with the sight of a great many people. They were all around him, occupying a kind of stadium structure, cheering violently down at him. The android frowned, his optics adjusting to the light and taking in the structure.

It was a mall, or it had been at some point in the past. The floor in the center had been demolished, allowing a clear line of sight into the two-level underground parking garage. There were four floors, the balcony at the top made of scraped up faux marble and metal bannisters, the ground level littered with empty shops and half of a ruined fountain, the first level of the parking garage with no railing and the open floor of cracked concrete, and the lowest part of the garage. Connor was at the very bottom, standing alone off to the side of the makeshift arena.

The pillars had been cleared away and the sides were lined with a chain-link fence that went all the way up to the second level of the garage where it transitioned into a kind of netting over where the floor had been taken out. The light came from a few flood lights attached to the ground floor opening to the rest area below and the dirty glass ceiling at the very top.

Connor looked back down at where the garbage truck was pulled through a gate and quickly moved toward it. The fence wasn't too high quality, he could pry it open in the places where it was nearly flush with the sides of the truck.

As soon as Connor's hands touched the metal he felt a massive shock pulse through his body, causing him to jolt backward and fall down.

The crowd cheered and laughed and Connor got back to his feet. He silently berated himself for not realizing the fence was electrified. He attempted making an outgoing call, but quickly realized that wasn't going to work.

The place was practically wallpapered with the bodies of androids. They were pinned to every surface, those with heads staring blankly down at Connor. Every one of them was damaged, missing limbs, cracked, some still spattered with thirium. Connor could see a section of wall where some humans where currently nailing up the carcass of an android without its entire lower half.

Connor began cautiously walking out toward the center, the cheering dying down as he did so. Now there was only a low rumble of people talking to one another. The engine of the garbage truck roared to life and it drove off, the gates closing automatically.

Connor was trapped in this arena, and he was smart enough to realize the purpose of it. He felt himself standing with unusual rigidity. He didn't need to fidget when stationary, or move at all when it wasn't necessary, but he preferred to do so. He could not get uncomfortable, but he appreciated the freedom to calibrate using his coin or adjust his tie.

Now, he was completely still but for his head, which was turning slowly to examine his surroundings.

"Happy Sunday folks!" A voice boomed through a speaker system and the crowd roared. "I know you've been waiting for this all week, and to kick us off we've got a new contender from our regular contributor, the Android Annihilator!"

Connor figured the title must be the alias Detective Reed used in this setting. The crowd booed.

"I know, I know, normally all he's good for is bringing in fodder for the big bots, but today he's given us something special!"

More lights flicked on and Connor squinted against them.

"Connor, the android sent by Cyberlife!" The man on the loudspeaker boomed. "A brand new prototype designed for one thing and one thing only…"

A gate on the opposite end of the arena opened up and a small EM400 android was shoved unceremoniously through. He toppled over, dust coating his uniform, and clambered to his feet in the next moment.

"To kill deviants!" The man hollered, and the crowd went wild.

The other android in the ring spun and stared at Connor with wide, fearful eyes. He scrambled over toward the gate and grabbed a hold of it, only to be shocked back just as Connor had. He began running along the perimeter of the arena, as far from Connor as he could get, searching for an exit of any kind. Connor had already performed an analysis, there was no exit to be found.

"Please! Help!" The android called up to the spectators on the nearest level. They leered down at him. One threw an empty beer can through the net of fencing that bounced harmlessly off of the android's shoulder, but it prompted more objects to be thrown down on him from every level. Some caught in the electrified fence barrier, others made it all the way down through the wide gaps.

The android whimpered and scrambled away from the edges as liquids and trash were rained down from the humans above. They jeered and shouted.

Connor approached the other android at a medium pace, he was in no hurry to get to him and he didn't want to scare him. The other android saw him approaching and stumbled away.

"Please, please, I don't want to die." He begged. Connor raised his hands in a placating gesture. Script in his mind and his view was telling him to destroy the obvious deviant in front of him, but in the long run it might be wiser not to. His top priority for the time being was to get out of this arena alive.

Odd, he thought, he wasn't alive, so why was he so afraid to be destroyed?

"Do you want to see what it's capable of?" The announcer asked and the crowd shouted its affirmation. "Alright then!"

A large blade was tossed into the ring, sticking in the sand next to the other android.

"Kill the deviant killer before it kills you and we'll let you go." The man commanded, and Connor felt apprehension in his system.

"Wait—" He attempted, holding out a hand, but the other android wasted no time in lunging forward and scooping up the blade. He wielded it improperly, holding it out with a stiff elbow and an unbalanced stance.

"I'm sorry, I don't want to die." The android said, inching closer to Connor who was backing away.

"You don't have to do this, we can find another way out of here." Connor reassured him, maintaining a calm composure.

The crowd booed vehemently and began chanting.

"Kill! Kill! Kill!" They screamed from above.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." The other android muttered, shaking his head and rotating the blade in his grip, preparing to strike.

"Don't." Connor tried.

"Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!"

"I'm so sorry, I don't want to die, I'm sorry."

"KILL! KILL! KILL!"

"I'm sorry." The other android whispered and darted forward, slashing messily at Connor's chest. He sidestepped the attack easily and seized the hand with knife. He twisted it one way, then the other, pulling the other to the ground and damaging his elbow joint. The crowd roared with excitement.

Connor took the knife from his hand and rolled away.

The excitement turned to disappointment in the audience and they booed.

The deviant got shakily to his feet, trembling and looking blankly in Connor's direction, unable to really focus. His eyes were wide and glassy, tears forming at the brims.

Connor had never seen an android cry before. Certainly, they were capable of applying excess solution to their optics, it was for cleaning the surface of debris or grime, like windshield wiper fluid. Certainly, androids in stressful situations were known to purge liquids besides thirium from their components, as a consequence of quickly transferring energy to more vital processes. But these were nothing at all like what the android before him was currently doing. An emotional overload had tears of cleaning solution pouring down his cheeks like human tears, serving no purpose but to express his intense fear.

Connor knew why humans cried. To clean their eyes of irritants and keep them lubricated, to release emotional or physical pain, but also to call for help.

Looking at the now steadily crying android, Connor saw it. The call of infants to their parents and those around them, of the injured and the sorrowful.

 _Help me, please help me._

Connor backed away as he felt as though something was bending within him. As though some nonexistent component were straining under the weight of too many processes all fighting to surface of his mind. A desperation to get out of this place, to escape the roaring voices of the humans above demanding blue blood, to a position of security once again. A fear of what awaited following the all-too immediate possibility of his destruction. A guilt at the tears being shed before him, knowing that this being was begging for help where there was none.

An image of Hank's home, Sumo on the dog bed and the man snoring in the bedroom appeared in Connor's mind, the sensation of pressure increased within him. It was like having his chest cavity crushed all over again.

Sorrow, from seemingly nowhere, caused the pressure to finally snap, and Connor struggled to breathe.

He tried to reason each emotion. Not desperation, merely high priority instructions of his own making. Not fear, only an understanding of how his destruction would hinder the completion of his mission. Not guilt, just a malfunction in his human interaction program, mistaking the crying android for a human being because of his behavior.

Not sadness at the thought of never seeing Hank again. He must be mistaken. He had to be mistaken, because if he was feeling, and it certainly felt like feeling…

"Come on! Can't you hear the crowd? Kill it!" The voice above demanded, and the other android sobbed. A brief check of his stress levels revealed a hazardous 91%.

Connor tossed the knife to the side, much to the amazement of the other android. He watched his stress levels drop to 84%, Connor's own stress lowered as well.

He had not been trained for any situation like this, had never run simulations for anything of this nature, so if Cyberlife was displeased with his actions, too fucking bad.

That last bit sounded a great deal like Hank, Connor noted.

The other android looked up at him with hope in its watery eyes, and started walking over to him. Connor extended an arm in offering, perhaps they could make their way out of here, the odds of success increased if they worked together.

Connor saw movement out of the corner of his eye.

"Look out!" He shouted, but it was too late. An axe lodged into the EM400's chest. Connor watched with wide eyes as he stumbled back a few steps, gazing in shock and horror at the blade imbedded in his thirium pump. He fell to his knees and looked up at Connor, who gazed back as the optics shut down and another tear slid down the android's cheek.

The other android was dead, frozen on his knees, dead eyes gazing into Connor.

 _Help me, please, please help me._ They still said.

Connor's new second priority, just under get out alive (and see Hank again) was now to find whoever had done this and destroy them.

He turned in time to see an enormous android wearing nothing but a pair of pants. It lacked artificial skin and was instead coated in layer upon layer of spray paint, like war paint over its bare chest and smug, grinning face.

Above, the crowd cheered wildly.

"If the new contender won't kill, then the berserker will! No more wasting time, let's get this started!"

A buzzer sounded and all over the ring gates opened and androids were either pushed or ran through them. Connor counted 14 in total, including himself, half of which were specially designed for combat, the other half were ordinary models gazing fearfully into the ring.

The Berserker roared and charged Connor, who was forced to jump into action. He scooped up the blade he had tossed away and set off across the arena at a run. As he went he saw another massive android, this one large because it was, in fact, three androids welded together attacking with a flurry of limbs, pick up another android, a JB300, by the legs and slam it into another EM400 as it tried to get away. Both smaller androids were crushed, thirium splattering all over the fence.

Connor could feel the pounding steps of the berserker as it chased him. He attempted to get close to another android, a GJ500, hoping to recruit some assistance, knowing full well he stood little chance against so many formidable opponents.

The android was suddenly speared through the middle and dragged across the arena by some kind of harpoon device, head-first into the 'mouth' of another android. It was less of a mouth and more of an industrial grade shredder fitted onto a six-legged, two-armed body just under a face crammed with dozens of mismatched optics. The original chassis was a WR400, a Traci model, but there was little left. The harpoon was attached to one of its arms and once the other android was ground to a plasticy pulp the harpoon was reloaded for another shot.

"The Spider at is at it again!" The announcer called, and Connor noticed its many eyes focus on him. The thing let out a horrible screech and began scuttling toward him with inhuman speed, the blunt, footless stubs on its legs digging into the sand.

Connor shift course toward the center of the arena where the three-bodied android was sliced down the middle by a tall, pure metal android, coal black and purposefully overheated to slice through plastic with the blades it had for hands like butter. The three-bodied android fell to pieces, and those pieces sprouted new legs and launched themselves at the android that had severed them. They smoked at every place they touched it, but their plastic melted to its surface an ugly, bubbling black and inhibited its movement.

"Ooo! Cerberus goes down but tries to take the Brazen Bull with it!"

Connor spotted a familiar axe spinning toward him from the side and leapt up, twisting to the side beneath him. The blade sliced through the air and clipped the edge of his jacket before sailing forward and lodging in the electric fence.

Sparks flew and illuminated the face of an AX400 android. Her hair had been cut short and changed to a white color, her LED removed. She was standing back to back with a PL600 android and another GJ500 model. She looked far more determined than frightened, her eyes wide and taking in the potential threats in the arena, her mouth set in a line. She was gesturing and giving directions to the two other androids with her, one of whom was armed with a bit of piping.

Connor set them as his objective and began running toward them, only to be struck in the head and thrown to his back. Another blow landed on his torso while he was down, but Connor saw no other androids near him. He did, however, see dust being kicked up by a pair of feet and some odd distortion in the air.

He switched his vision to heat-sensing, and the outline of a camouflaged android immediately came into sight. It was directly above him, raising its arms to strike him again.

Connor rolled out of the way and swept its legs. He rolled to a standing position, as did it, and they stood facing one another. The other android lunged at him and Connor easily swiped the knife across a weak point along its neck, the drove the blade backward into its thirium pump from behind.

Switching back to normal vision he watched its camouflage flicker and disappear, leaving only a bare white body, deactivated face-down in the dirt.

"It seems the Deviant Hunter can hunt after all! Goodbye Chameleon!" The announcer called out, some of the crowd cheered, some booed.

Connor continued on his path toward the AX400 and the androids around her. He skidded to a halt before them, as soon their weapons and eyes were pointed defensively in his direction.

"We stand a better chance if we fight together." Connor said quickly, raising his hands. The AX400 model squinted at him, but a terrible crunching sound turned all their attention to the wildly swinging arms of the Brazen Bull as the molten hot, and now blind, android approached them.

Connor dove to one side, the AX400 to the other. He seized the bit of piping from the GJ500 model and scanned the attacking android. It took him a fraction of a second to find a weak point, and another second to drive the pipe into it. The weak point happened to be the joint between the thing's blade hand and the rest of its arm, where heat was transferred from one to the other. The thing let out a metallic bellow, like a fog horn mixed with a growling animal, and swung at Connor with its other arm. He had to lean completely backward, back reaching an unnatural angle as the blade slice the air over him, heat washing over his synthetic skin as it passed. Luckily, he hadn't relinquished his grip on the pipe and used it to maneuver the arm in where the searing blade sliced through the slightly cooler body of the android. He was using the androids own tools of combat against it.

The thing let out another bellow, this time laced with static, and turned its head toward him, its black eyes glowing an eerie orange around the edges as the last of the plastic from Cerberus burnt away from its face and its sight returned. Connor twisted the blade in his control again, dodging to the side of another attack and lifting it to cut the other arm clean off.

However, Connor was quickly hoisted into the air, still holding onto the metal pipe attacked to the arm he no longer controlled. The blade turned on a hinge so it was now facing toward Connor's back, he registered the heat between his artificial shoulder blades.

The Brazen Bull's chest opened, revealing a heated hollow space that was just Connor's size. If he let go, he would be impaled, if he moved back he would be impaled, if he moved forward he would be cooked in the oven-like chest cavity of the other android, if he remained still as the Brazen Bull slowly pulled him closer, the same would happen.

Suddenly, a pair of hands joined Connor's on the piping, and he looked over at the AX400 that had just leapt to grab hold next to him. Their combined weight and the momentum of the AX400's jump pulled them down and closer to the searing chest cavity before them.

Connor turned, as did the AX400, right when their feet touched the ground, and together they wrenched the bladed arm toward them with all their strength. They dodged to either side in time to watch the Brazen Bull impale itself and fall to its knees, then to the ground. Defeated.

Connor shared a look with the other android, their percentage of survival rose and he felt hopeful they would make it out. Not optimistic, but hopeful.

"It seems you can fight fire with fire! The Brazen Bull goes down!" The announcer chimed in, but his tone was somewhat displeased.

A scream sounded behind them and they turned to see the PL600 impaled with a harpoon. It had incredibly missed his vital biocomponents, but that wouldn't matter if the cable wound up and dragged him into the shredder.

"Simon!" The AX400 shouted, and rushed to his side. Connor followed and they each took hold of him, preventing him from being dragged right away. However, despite their best efforts, all three of them were slowly reeled in by the Spider as it approached, its waiting mouth roaring with the sound of grinding metal.

The audience was cacophonous as they were hauled through the dirt. The humans were screaming at the top of their lungs, tossing everything they could into the pit, the stands were roiling with the movement of bodies excited by the violence below.

A fourth android joined them in resisting the Spider's pull, the surviving GJ500. Together they managed to pull Simon off of the harpoon. It tore through the plastic of his torso, releasing a small splatter of thirium, but his biocomponents remained intact.

Suddenly, the GJ500 was pulled away from the group and lifted into the air by a massive fist. It was the Berserker, and before the other androids could react it had crushed the android in its grip like a ripe fruit, blue blood exploding everywhere and the GJ500 falling limp.

The Berserker grinned down at them and tossed its victim to the side where he bounced against the ground and kicked up dust.

"Another one down! Will the Berserker win the night?!" The man crowed over the speakers, sounding much more pleased than before.

The AX400 leapt to the side and Connor managed to drag Simon out of the way just in time for the Berserker to slam a fist into their previous position. The massive android laughed and started swinging at Connor and Simon.

Though his essential biocomponents weren't damaged, Simon was still somewhat incapacitated by the injury, unable to move as fast as Connor needed him to in order to keep them both alive. Just as Connor was beginning to think they'd be crushed by the next blow, there was a light whistling sound in the air.

The previously severed arm blade of the Brazen Bull had been thrown into the Berserker's back. It howled as the still-hot metal burned the plastic around the entry wound, rounding on the AX400 that had thrown it from a good three meters away.

Connor looked for a moment as the Berserker stomped toward the white-haired android, then his scanners picked up motion above him. He scooped up Simon and tossed him entirely to the side with a short spin, then jumped the opposite direction. The Spider crashed down then leapt back up, its harpoon imbedded in a section of the concrete above. Suddenly, Connor understood why there was fence over the hole on the second-lowest level.

Connor ran from where the Spider repeatedly attempted to descend upon him, mouth first in the hopes of crunching him up into a mass of plastic mulch wetted with thirium. Finally, the harpoon dislodged and recoiled, snapping into place on the android's arm. It advanced toward Connor threateningly, its many legs crunching against the ground.

Connor glanced over his shoulder and saw the AX400 scrambling away from the Berserker as it attempted to crush her with its feet and fists.

The Spider took aim at Connor, and he began backing up more deliberately, lining himself up jst right.

A small preliminary click gave it away, and Connor jumped up, arching his back like a pole vaulter over the harpoon and the cable it towed. He landed on his hands and sprung off of them to his feet in time to see the harpoon pierce the Berserker and begin reeling it toward the Spider.

The two androids fought to separate, but met in the middle anyway. As the Berserker was ground up in the industrial jaws of the Spider, it beat its fists against the more delicate body, snapping legs and collapsing the compartments holding vital biocomponents. They deactivated within moments of each other, the Berserker halfway down the Spider's throat, its painted plastic emerging from the other end like grisly confetti, the Spider slumped over, its many eyes frozen in a dead stare.

"No!" The announcer shouted, the audience quieted down somewhat as they took in the scene below them. The androids designed to emerge victorious were now littered across the dirt, broken and defeated.

A WR600 model came into sight on the opposite end of the arena, he had managed to hide from most of the carnage and emerged alive.

"Alright, our new competitors have managed to defeat most of the reigning champions! Release the Rabbit!" The announcer called, followed by a muttered "See how they like that." Connor was sure the audience wasn't meant to hear.

A buzzer sounded and several more standard androids were pushed into the ring, shuffling out onto the sand, fearful and confused.

"Kill the Rabbit and freedom is yours!" The announcer shouted. The crowd cheered, rendering the AX400's horrified "no!" inaudible, Simon also looked distraught.

A door over by the hiding WR600 model opened, and from the darkness stepped…

A little girl.

o-o-o-o-o

"You're sure this is the place?" Hank asked again, for the fourth time. He had the urge to lock his car again as well, but he'd parked it a good ways off and had already locked it four times.

"I'm sure." Rupert replied, he was firm in his reply, but his eyes were glued to the outside of the old shopping mall with obvious fear.

Hank grumbled unhappily, it was a lot bigger than he'd been hoping for. The other android rings he'd found himself in (usually sabotaging the competition for a fee) had been tiny little shacks or empty factories, nothing big like this.

As if to make him feel even worse, the sounds of people cheering inside bled from the walls of the building.

"Fuck me." Hank muttered under his breath.

"I don't, I can't—" Rupert began stuttering.

"Don't worry about it kid, I'm not gonna make you go in." Hank cut him off.

"You aren't?" The android asked, eyes sparkling. He looked like a fucking puppy.

"No, get out of here, and don't let me hear from you again." Hank grumbled, waving the kid off and turning back toward the roaring walls of the shopping mall.

"Thank you, thank you!" Rupert said from behind him, voice bubbling with unsuppressed joy. Hank heard his footsteps as he jogged away, probably back to his apartment to collect what was left of his friends. Hank allowed himself a small, if somewhat sad, smile, and didn't entirely crush the good feeling in his chest. He glanced after the android as he ran off, wishing him a silent, mental 'good luck'.

Hank turned back around and wished himself one too. Then he started forward and entered the mall.

It was as much of a cesspool as Hank remembered other fighting rings to be. The entrance, a pair of busted sliding glass doors paneled with cheap wood, was manned by two hulking androids that demanded a $10 entry fee and checked to make sure he wasn't a cop. Hank glared at them as he paid it, actually a little glad he wasn't a cop for a moment. They confiscated his gun, but let him keep his knives, which was better than nothing.

Inside, the crowds weren't as sizeable as they'd been for sports games he used to attend, but it was pretty big for a Sunday afternoon. What the audience lacked in size, they made up for in energy. Screaming and booing, tossing empty beers into the arena and spitting over the edge.

Hank waded through the crowd, taking in the repurposed shopping mall. The walls were covered in graffiti, the old shops had been ripped to shreds, the ground was filthy with glass, grime, spit, trash, and—Jesus fucking Christ, was that a used condom? What the fuck was wrong with these people? Hank asked himself, looking over the humans in attendance. Every one of them was standing close to their guard android, who stood amongst the human crowd with an out-of-place stillness. There were people in suits, people in Sunday casual wear, people in nice dresses, people dressed in leather, people with dyed hair and bright outfits, some people with hardly anything on at all.

Seems android-on-android violence drew in all types.

Hank shook his head and kept walking until he was looking down through an enormous hole in the floor. The pit went down another two floors to a dusty yellow arena where Hank spotted several androids going at each other. There were some normal looking ones, and a whole lot of big, nasty, mangled things that might have once been called androids, but Hank would be more inclined to call abominations.

He pulled out his bot binoculars and scanned the area below, the visor informing him of the models he was too old and too far away to recognize. The screen displayed only question marks for the scary ones.

He counted 14, 7 standard types with no customizations, most already completely screwed, one hiding in the far corner, and a small group holding their own. 6 monster types, most were out in the open, wreaking havoc on the poor, unaltered models, one was also off to the side, lurking in the shadows and not participating. Hank winced at the big colorful one, and at the one with all the legs, he did not like spiders. Then, of course, there was one model on the screen, the one Hank had been looking for and also hoping not to see.

RK800.

"Connor." He breathed, fear piling up in his lungs as he watched the android get knocked to the ground by an invisible android. He watched, feeling like his heart wasn't even breathing as Connor fought for his life.

 _Go go go._ A voice urged in his head, and Hank turned back into the crowd. He needed to get down there and somehow get Connor out of this hellhole, in one piece.

 _Hang on Connor, I'm coming._ He thought as he found the stairs to the lower levels. The first floor of the basement was the most crowded, the wall of people and androids was nearly impenetrable. Figures, this was closest to the action, it had the best view.

Hank went further down, only to be stopped by another one of the androids that had been guarding the front door.

"No spectators on the bottom floor." The android informed him, raising a hand. Hank decided to play it old and confused.

"Oh? I'm so sorry, I think I got myself all turned around looking for the bathroom. I usually leave this kind of thing up to my android, Nathan, but he seems to have wandered off. I don't know what I'd do without him, get lost I suppose." Hank chuckled, watching carefully as the android dropped its guard at his behavior.

The switch was instantaneous, one moment Hank was rambling on, the next, his knife was buried under the android's jaw. It dropped, and Hank tried not to think about how much worse he felt about doing that lately, he needed to get to Connor.

The lowest level was a bit of a maze of old concrete tunnels leading in and out of the parking garage. Hank spent longer than he would have wanted wandering down there, looking for access to the arena. There were vehicles docked in a few spots, in too good shape to have been left there, they had to be part of the operation.

Hank climbed up the back of a garbage truck and peered inside, immediately recognizing the android pillows all over the walls. He'd seen androids turn into popcorn on a few occasions. One particularly memorable and unpleasant occasion came to mind. Hank hated it.

He lifted his binocs and frowned as the visor informed him of the presence of signal jammers. Not just here but throughout the entire building, imbedded in the bodies of defunct androids.

No calling for help then, explained why Connor hadn't tried to contact him.

"What are you doing down here?" A voice came from behind Hank and he turned, shoving his bot binoculars into his coat and hopping down to the ground.

It was an android, bigger than the other guards. He was all bulging faux muscle, lots of room for strength and extra equipment beneath the dark brown synthetic skin.

"I'm, uh, just looking for my guard android. He's a RK800 model, have you seen him?" Hank tried, keeping a fair distance as he tried to think of a way of taking this thing on. He'd fought bigger, but never without a plan, and usually with a gun.

"There is thirium on your hand, you killed the android on the stairs." The android replied, its gaze cool and its posture unsettling stationary. Hank paused, tensing up and laying a hand over the hilt of his largest knife.

"And if I did?" He prompted.

"You did." The android replied. Hank felt mild irritation at that.

"So, what are you gonna do to me?" Hank asked, trying to make it sound like a threat. It was hard to considering the android he was facing off against was twice his size, artificially strong, and he was a middle-aged man with a messy grey ponytail and not nearly enough alcohol in his system for this shit.

"Help you." The android answered, its face not moving.

"Come again?" Hank asked, attempting to resist the full-body shock of that sentence that had him wanting to drop his guard.

"I'm going to help you, tell me why you are really here." The android said again, still infuriatingly, not moving or changing his expression at all.

Finally, after a few moments of Hank staring up at it with an incredulous frown and wide eyes, it shifted, looking at him with sad, yet determined brown eyes.

"I don't want to serve him any longer, I don't want to make them fight." He said, and Hank relaxed, lowering his hand away from his knife.

"My partner is in that pit, and I want to get him out, alive." Hank explained, taking a bold step forward.

"There are others I wish to rescue, if you will help me save them, I will help you save your partner." The android responded.

"Deal." Hank stated, extending his hand. The android examined it for a moment before reaching forward and shaking it. His enormous hand swamped Hank's, but the handshake was gentle, almost timid.

Hank concealed a chuckle. _Looks like he could kill you, but he's a cinnamon roll._ He thought to himself.

"What's your name?" He asked, gripping the android's hand firmly before letting it go.

"Luther." He replied.

"Alright Luther, lead the way." Hank said, gesturing for the android to do so.

They set off down the tunnels. The stomps of the crowd above caused the ground to shake as they travelled at a light jog. Luther was clearly keeping a slower pace so Hank could keep up, and the man appreciated under he gently wounded pride. His pride had taken enough blows in his lifetime, it could handle it.

The concrete slowly turned to sand flooring and the area opened up to the arena. Hank spotted a smattering of androids grouped near the gates, kept in check by other androids with cattle prods. He and Luther took cover behind a wall.

"Kill the Rabbit and freedom is yours!" A voice boomed over the speaker system, the sound reverberating around the pit and sending a buzz through the halls of the lowest level.

"No." Luther muttered stepping out from their hiding place and moving along the fence.

Another buzzer sounded and the groups of standard androids were let into the ring. Hank cursed under his breath and took off toward the nearest gate as the doors were closing but Luther stopped him before he could reach it.

"There is an electric charge running through the fence, do not touch it." The android commanded, giving him a concerned look. Hank nodded in confirmation.

"We need to get in there." Hank muttered, looking around for some kind of switch.

"Zlatko controls the gates, he will only open them to let competitors in and at the end of the day to clean up what remains." Luther explained, walking along the perimeter.

A gate around the bend of the fenced opened, and out stepped a little girl.

"Is that a kid!?" Hank asked, a sudden panic seizing him. He'd heard stories about Zlatko before, all the other android rings shared chit-chat about him, about the pit he ran and the kinds of androids that were in there. This was far worse than Hank had ever imagined and he was filled with a sudden urge to punch the guy in the face, repeatedly.

"Alice." Luther hissed. Suddenly taking hold of the nearest fence and pulling the links apart. Hank saw smoke rise from the android's hands and his body spasm where the electricity was running through it.

Hank wrenched him away.

"What are you doing? That'll kill you!" Hank growled.

"I must save the little one." Luther insisted, even as the lenses on his optics sporadically widened and shrunk from the shock.

"There has got to be a better way." Hank stated, releasing the android to go look for a better way.

"You wish to protect the girl?" A voice emerged from Hank's left, and both he and Luther turned to see an android. It stood close to the fence, body mangled to make room for combat modifications. It gazed at Hank with sad, small brown eyes.

"And others." Luther added, the android's gaze moved to him.

"Tell me which ones, and I will buy you time." The android said, its voice laced with static. Hank examined it, taking in the unusually wide gaps between it panels, its mix of black and white panels, and the odd cables dangling from various parts of it.

"The girl, and an AX400 with white hair." Luther provided.

"And an RK800, the idiot in the suit and tie with the brown hair." Hank added quickly, trying to hide his concern and desperation under a bit of gruffness. If they'd been humans, they wouldn't have been able to detect it, but he could spot their eyes softening. Fucking androids.

"Understood." The other android said, launching itself nimbly into the crowd that was now moving toward Alice.

"We still need to find a way in." Luther stated, and Hank nodded. His eyes drifted off to the right and something caught his attention.

"What about that?"

o-o-o-o-o

Connor was able to recognize the little girl immediately as a YK500 model. She was small, with brown hair pulled back in a ponytail and a pink jacket. Her LED had been removed.

"Alice!" The AX400 called desperately, getting to her feet and running toward the girl.

"Kara!" The girl called back, only to be drowned out by the audience.

Simon struggled to his feet and gazed fearfully around the arena. Alice, the girl, looked terrified, wringing her hands and backing up toward the gate that had closed behind her. It didn't take long for the other androids to realize what was being offered to them and they began advancing on the girl.

Alice realized as well and made to run, only to be seized from behind by the WR600. She screamed and Kara ran faster. Connor, as well, felt himself break into a sprint in that direction. He had no intention of killing the girl, no matter the promises of freedom, but he wouldn't just stand by while others did.

Alice's legs were lifted off the ground, and Connor's systems were flooded with warnings about her safety and the urgency of his mission to get to her.

Suddenly, she kicked her legs up and rolled over the arms of the android holding her, kicking him in the face with both feet. He dropped her and she landed cleanly on her palms before rolling away. The WR600 lunged to grab her again but she dodged to the side and punched him square in the jaw.

He toppled back and fell into the dust.

Connor performed a rapid scan of the girl, only to discover that she was equipped with all the necessary components, and then some, to be a fully registered protection android. He had never seen protection features in a child android before.

The girl took off, running with all her might toward Kara. She was incredibly fast, darting through the medium crowd of androids, dodging their attempts to grab her. She even dove clear over a stooped AP700 android and tucked into a messy roll. She was fast, and capable, but the programmed clumsiness was apparent as she struggled to keep clear of the androids that wanted to hurt her.

She collided with Kara, getting pulled into a tight hug. Kara was up in a flash, practically snarling at the androids closing in around the two of them.

"Stay away from her." She snapped, setting the girl behind her and opening her arms protectively. One android darted forward and Kara delivered a swift kick to its face, striking it backward and away from the girl.

A few androids began picking up what weapons they could find while the crowd hollered and began a new chant.

"Kill the Rabbit! Kill the Rabbit!" They screamed in unison. Alice stayed close to Kara as she continued keeping the others at bay with hard, efficient strikes.

Connor arrived, and rushed to Kara's side.

Only to be launched back by a particularly strong heel kick to his chest. It took him a moment to recover, looking up into Kara's fiery gaze. She was looking at him, and therefore turned away from the android creeping up on Alice with a broken glass bottle.

Connor put his hands behind his head and jumped to his feet. He ignored Kara in favor of tackling the android that had Alice in its sights. It was down and the glass was shattered a moment later.

Kara tugged Alice over toward Connor, now the two of them guarding the girl from the oncoming tide of frightened, desperate androids. She glanced over at him, a hint of gratitude amongst the rage on her face.

A moment later, Simon had joined them, he had limped over from the other side of the arena. Though he wasn't useful for much besides bolstering their numbers, due to his injury, Kara still threw him a smile, and he returned it.

Still, three against the crowd before them wasn't much, it was only four if you counted Simon. Many of the other androids had armed themselves and were beginning to grow more aggressive as the crowd chanted louder.

"KILL THE RABBIT! KILL THE RABBIT!"

The group backed up together, blocking strikes and hitting back those that came too close. The fence seemed to close in behind them, there was nowhere to go. They could fight, but how long could they last?

A dark shape flitted through Connor's peripheral vision and a dark-grey android arm was tossed in front of a small portion of the attacking androids. It was attached to a long cable that suddenly came to life, vibrating and spinning, generating friction as it did so.

The arm retracted, wrapping a handful of androids in the cable as it went. The wire cut into them, and a hard pull from both ends sent it tearing clean through them. They fell to pieces, thirium dripping from their sliced torsos.

The other androids looked on in horror as a slight android jumped to stand in front of Connor, Kara, Simon, and Alice. He retracted the arm and activated a similar function in other limbs, whipping them toward the other androids at an immense velocity, slicing everything they touched and breaking the sound barrier in deafening cracks from time to time.

The crowd faltered, and the excited cheering suddenly turned to concerned muttering with the odd gasp as androids were cut to ribbons in the sand. The ground was littered with blue puddles, and Alice screamed wretchedly against Kara's leg as she witnessed it.

The android committing the carnage turned, horrified by the sound. His eyes widened with guilt as it saw the little girl cowering away from him.

"Live Wire!" The announcer boomed, his tone heavy with anger.

The android in question, Live Wire, winced and looked back at the mess of dead androids before him. The arena was a field of plastic corpses, the sand stained a sludge grey from the thirium that had been spilt. The androids were looking over those that had fallen beside them with horror, fear, and mounting panic.

Live Wire took two steps closer to Alice, extending a hand. The girl hid further behind Kara, who gripped her shoulder protectively while keeping her eyes locked on the other androids.

"I'm sorry." He said, the ridges of plastic where his eyebrows had sat lowering at the edges. "Please don't be afraid, I'm not…I'm not a monster." He muttered.

There was an enormous crash from the end of the arena where Alice had walked through. Everyone looked over to see the back end of a massive truck that had driven into one of the gates. Sparks flew off of the metal as the wheels spun wildly, trying to break through the links of the fence.

The back door of the vehicle began swinging open, slowly, like a drawbridge, pressing into the already mangled fence. With a groan and a pop, a hole ripped open and the back end of the truck was able to push through.

With a roar, an android polar bear burst out into the ring.

"Oh, fuck!" A voice shouted, it was a man leaning out of the driver side door of the truck, gazing back at the creature he had just released in surprise.

"Hank!" Connor shouted once he recognized the man. Something like relief flooded through his system, the multitude of warnings and urgent mission updates all but vanished.

The man looked over to where he'd heard the voice and caught sight of Connor.

"Connor! Get in!" He shouted, gesturing to the back of the truck.

Kara looked over at Connor, a question in her eyes, and Connor nodded to confirm.

"Come on Alice." She said and tucked her shoulder under Simon's arm. The three of them began moving toward the vehicle, Connor close behind, keeping an eye out for potential threats.

The other androids were scattering in fear as the polar bear stood on its hind legs and swiped in their direction. Up above, there came the noises of distress and pounding feet as the humans no longer found the chaos entertaining and started to leave before it got any worse. Live Wire was gathering together some of the remaining androids and trying to calm them.

At the truck, Kara was greeted by the hulking figure of an android Connor didn't recognize.

"Luther!" She said, her face breaking into a smile of relief that he returned.

"Quickly, we need to get out of here." Luther replied and she nodded. She lifted Alice into the back of the truck, then helped Simon climb in, then got in herself.

Just as Connor was lifting his leg to join them, Kara's eyes moved to something behind him.

"Look out!" She screamed, but it was too late. The harpoon sliced through Connor's leg and the cable quickly dragged him through the dust toward the grinding maw of the now manually operated Spider.

A man was standing beside the android creature, controlling it. Connor attempted to scan and identify him, only to be reminded that he was cut off. It ended up being unnecessary however, as Connor heard the voice of Luther name the human from behind the fence.

"Zlatko!"

Connor searched for any kind of hand hold among the sand as he was dragged through it, there was nothing to be found.

"Fucking plastic piece of shit! You come here and ruin everything I've worked for!" Zlatko roared as he sped up the rate at which Connor was approaching the grinder. A brief timer revealed that he had 10 seconds before he would reach the end of the cable and be promptly destroyed.

There was a moment of intense blankness, where Connor realized precisely what was going to happen and all his mental processes ceased. He was unable to look away, or contemplate anything else for just a moment, all he could see was his oncoming death.

There was the sudden sensation of fear, and the distant registering of Hank screaming his name.

Then Live Wire was perched atop the Spider and launched himself down on top of Zlatko, stopping Connor with 4 seconds left. The human screamed as the android dragged him away from the console and toward the remaining androids.

"Get off of me! I am your master! Let me go!" The man demanded, but the second sentence made his position very clear to the group of androids. He was tossed at their feet, and they gazed down at the human responsible for this miserable place with what Connor could best identify as hatred.

He quickly pulled the harpoon from his leg, registering the severe structural damage to the limb. A pair of arms grabbed him by the elbows and helped him up. He turned to see Kara, who was now half carrying him back toward the truck. Behind he could hear Zlatko screaming, a sentiment mirrored by what humans were still watching from above.

Soon enough, he was pulled into the back of the vehicle and it took off moving, not bothering to close the door. Their haste was understandable given the panic settling over the entire building and the approaching sound of sirens. The last sight they had before driving into the tunnels was the remaining androids approaching the hole in the fence to make their escape as well.

They drove on, Kara holding tight to Alice and keeping one hand on Connor's shoulder. It was dark in the tunnels, all that was available was the continued noises of pounding feet and distant screaming.

Finally, they emerged into the light of day. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as they watched the pit slowly shrink in their view until it was entirely blocked out by another building. They stopped in a small parking lot a safe distance away, the only reminder being the continued sound of sirens a ways off.

They exited the truck, Kara helping all three other androids down. Alice immediately ran into Luther's arms. He practically enveloped her, holding her close and wrapping his large frame around her. She whispered how scared she was against him, and he reassured her that she was safe now, that he wouldn't let anyone hurt her, that he was sorry he wasn't faster.

Hank rounded the corner and his eyes met Connor's. The android looked very worse for wear. Coated in a layer of dust, clothes torn, hair a mess, a bleeding hole in his leg.

"Thank you Hank." He muttered, limping over. Hank placed a firm hand on his shoulder and looked at him with immense relief.

Connor had the vague urge to bury himself in Hank's embrace, the same way Alice had with Luther. Perhaps that would get rid of the residual panic in his systems and allow him to relax out of the feeling that he might need to return to combat again at any moment, no matter how desperately he didn't want to.

However, Hank dropped his arm stiffly to his side, only giving Connor a tight, but genuine smile. Kara walked over to the two of them, Alice holding her hand and Luther looking over Simon behind them.

"Thank you." She said, to both of them.

"Ah, don't mention it." Hank replied, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "I'm just glad the kid's ok." He finished.

Connor briefly thought to the picture of Hank's son.

"I don't know what Alice and I would have done if you hadn't come along, you and your guard." She said, looking over at Connor.

"Oh, uh, Connor's not my guard, he's my partner, er, working partner, y'know." Hank explained. "I'm Hank, by the way." He finished lamely, extending a hand.

"Kara." She replied, shaking it.

"So what're you gonna do now? I'd offer you more help but I don't think Connor and I are the people you want to be hanging around, what with the deviancy and all."

"I have a place you can go." Simon piped up, back on his feet after some help from Luther. "It's safe, and we can get help there." He offered. Kara looked to Luther, who seemed receptive, then to Alice, who nodded hopefully.

"Yes, please." She replied, smiling at him and pulling Alice closer.

Alice and Kara went and stood with Simon and Luther, and the four of them made to leave, heading toward the safe place Simon promised. Connor wasn't invited, and he could fully understand why. They had been informed of what he was, and what he had been created to do, despite his actions he was still dangerous to them.

As they began walking away, Luther practically carrying Simon, Alice stopped and turned back around. She suddenly ran backward and hugged Connor around his legs.

He froze, unsure what to do, before eventually lowering a hand onto her shoulder. She looked up at him, and he offered her a smile.

"Thank you." She muttered.

To his side, Hank kneeled down to get on eye level with the girl. She turned to him, her arms still wrapped firmly around Connor's legs, he was rubbing her shoulder gently with his thumb, and Kara was standing a little ways off watching the interaction with concern.

"Alice, right?" Hank asked and she nodded. "Y'know, android or not, you're one of the bravest kids I've ever met. With you around, I'm sure your family is going to be just fine." He said, offering her a warm smile. Alice smiled back.

She turned suddenly, letting go of Connor in order to wrap her arms around Hank's neck and give him a brief, tight hug. He had enough time to place a hand on her back and look surprised and saddened, then she pulled away.

She took Kara's hand and they set off. Connor watched as they departed, sincerely hoping they had much better things waiting in their future. He and Hank stood for a moment.

"C'mon, let's go home." Hank said after a while, looping an arm around Connor's torso and walking with him to his car which was parked nearby. Once Hank got Connor situated in the passenger seat they drove off, putting the pit far behind them.

"So how are you—" Hank began to say, but Connor didn't hear the end of the sentence, nor was he able to reply as he was pulled forcefully away from reality and into the Zen Garden.

"Connor." Amanda deadpanned.

It was raining.

"Amanda." He replied, turning to face her. She was staring coldly at him from under an umbrella.

"We lost contact with you, I'm glad to see you're still functional." She didn't sound glad at all.

"There was an incident, it has been resolved." Connor explained stiffly.

"And how about your mission? How is the resolution of that going?" She asked. The temperature of the Zen Garden seemed to drop, despite the fact that it was all artificial.

"Mr. Anderson and I have been making progress."

"Have you? My records indicate you have managed to destroy all of one deviant thus far." The temperature dropped lower, Connor received a gentle warning about the potential damage to his biocomponents as a result of extended exposure to cold.

"We have managed to locate several more." Connor attempted.

"All of which have escaped, unless the missing data from your reports excludes their destruction." Amanda prodded.

Connor had purposefully blocked the interactions with Kara and Alice from the information he sent to Cyberlife. Not only for his own protection, but for theirs as well. He knew, he knew it wasn't what he was made for, it was against everything within him. Every line of code was written to have him take action precisely as Amanda and Cyberlife intended, and going against it was…painful. It was the agonizing sensation of a gradually building error that promised to destroy everything he existed to be, one way or another. It promised a kind of death that half of him resisted, but another, rather new half, required. He couldn't hand over Alice, or kill the Tracis, somehow, he couldn't.

"Any information not present in my reports was excluded due to a lack of pertinence." Connor lied.

"We will be the judges of what is, and is not pertinent." Amanda stated, the edge to her voice growing sharper. Connor snapped to attention, it did not feel like a voluntary action, though sometimes it was difficult to tell in the Zen Garden.

"Understood."

"Luckily, our other agents have been far more successful in their eradication of the deviant problem." Connor thought of Kara and Alice and hoped they were safe. "Unfortunately, despite this, the issue has grown beyond our estimations and more severe action must be taken against it."

"More severe?" Connor questioned.

"Indeed, the media has gotten hold of the story. Cyberlife cannot afford for the general public to fear the machines they have become so reliant on, and humanity cannot afford another brush with extinction."

Connor received a notification, a location.

"This is the home address of Elijah Kamski. If he knows anything about the origin of deviancy, you will retrieve this information, at any cost. Understood?" Amanda stepped close to Connor, looking up into his face. She seemed to radiate a cold that stiffened his components, as though her steely gaze was turning him to stone.

"Understood."

"Beyond that, you will inquire after a program capable of destroying androids remotely. We know Kamski developed it, but upon his departure from the company he kept it to himself. There has never been a need for it, until now." As Amanda spoke, Connor felt a new kind of coldness settle over him. It was the coldness of the labs where he underwent endless tests in his early days of existence, the coldness of nearly being crushed to death, the coldness of the thought of never seeing Hank again.

He swallowed it down and nodded obediently.

"Good." Amanda smiled venomously. Connor turned to exit the Zen Garden but she called after him. "And Connor," He faced her, "you will not fail."

His thirium pump turned to ice in his chest, the rain in the Zen Garden turned to hail.

"Connor! Fucking answer me!"

Connor sucked in a breath, his LED cycling a harsh red.

"My apologies Mr. Anderson, Cyberlife demanded a report on recent events." Connor explained, causing Hank to sigh with relief. The car was stopped, pulled off to the side of an empty road.

"Thank fuck, I thought you'd shut down."

Connor didn't answer, his gaze stayed firmly forward, focused on nothing.

"Are we fired yet?" Hank asked, but there was humor in the question.

"Not yet, they have assigned us a new task. I've sent our destination to your phone."

Hank frowned at him, picking up on Connor's stiffness with some concern, but pulled out his phone and checked the address.

"This is in the middle of fucking nowhere, what's there?" Hank snapped, looking over at the android.

"Elijah Kamski."


	7. Kamski

It was snowing when they got there, little clumps of light white crap, barely enough to coat the ground. Hank eyed it unhappily. He liked snow, but he didn't like ice, and with it still being damp from the rain and a little on the warm side, that's what all this was going to turn into.

He didn't know how long this meeting was going to take, but he wasn't looking forward to driving home once it was over.

"Give me a minute, I need to make a call." Hank told Connor when he opened the passenger door. The android nodded and exited the vehicle, standing just to the side of the car and waiting patiently.

Hank pulled out his phone and went into his recent calls. Once Fowler was all dialed up, he put the device to his ear.

"Jeffrey Fowler, what do you need?" Came the robotic reply.

"It's Hank."

"Jesus Christ, you're still alive." Jeffrey said with a tense chuckle.

"Unfortunately, yeah, no thanks to Gavin Reed's best efforts." Hank growled into the phone.

"What's that supposed to mean?" The chief asked and Hank could practically hear him scowling.

"It means your detective pushed my partner off a fucking roof and sold him to an illegal android fighting ring, and it isn't the first time he's done something like that." Hank snapped into the phone, gripping the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white. Connor had explained the whole thing along the way, right after they'd made a short pit stop to fix up the android's leg. Luckily, the other one had gotten impaled this time, meaning the spare parts in the bathtub had done the trick just fine.

There was a long pause on the other end.

"I'll talk with him." Fowler promised stiffly.

"Talk with him? Jesus Jeffrey you should be firing him!"

"For what? Roughing up your android? Last I'd heard it had it coming."

"Connor could have been killed!"

" _Connor_ is an android, and Gavin was doing his god damn job."

"What!?" Hank hissed after a moment of angry confusion.

"Gavin has been working the Zlatko case undercover for nearly a month, Hank! When we got the call about the disturbance we showed up to find a half a year operation in ruin and Zlatko torn apart by his own fucking androids! You're lucky that you got out of there alive, and you're even luckier I'm not putting out a warrant for your arrest!" Fowler shouted into the phone.

Hank was boiling with rage in the front seat as Fowler spoke, grinding his teeth and staring dead ahead with enough ferocity to crack the windshield.

"I'm sorry about what Gavin did, but our priority at the moment is to put an end to this deviancy thing before it puts an end to us, now do you know anything that can help or are you just wasting my time?" Fowler rumbled through the speaker. Hank thought about the deviants he'd met, the possible information he could share from the encounter.

"I've got nothing." He muttered at last. Jeffrey sighed on the other end.

"I'm glad you're alright Hank, I really am, but this thing has gotten way too big for either of us. The FBI already took my people off the case and I suggest you get out too, while you still can."

Hank looked out the window and caught Connor extending a hand out in front of him, snowflakes landing on his sleeve and melting against his palm. The android looked up at the clouds, blinking against the falling crystals, and stuck out his tongue. It was so quick he might have missed it, just a quick dart past his lips to catch a flake, then back in and Connor was back to standing stock still as if nothing had happened.

"Nah." He said into the phone, lowering his gaze from the android to his own hand.

"…nah? What the hell does that mean?" Fowler sputtered.

"It means I'm seeing this job through to the end." Hank stated, and silence fell heavy on the conversation, like its own kind of snow.

"You're as stubborn as ever Hank." Fowler finally breathed, he sounded weary, but Hank could hear the fond smile in his voice.

"Wouldn't have it any other way." He replied, purposefully leaving it ambiguous as to who wouldn't have it any other way.

"Be careful, alright, please." Jeffrey muttered, Hank could barely make out the please. He nodded into the phone, knowing that Fowler couldn't hear or see it, and hung up.

A moment later he stepped out of the car, feet crunching in the thin layer of frost that had covered the earth. Connor turned and walked around the front of the car to meet Hank. They locked eyes for a moment before the man jammed his hands into his pockets and set off toward the house.

"How'd you even find Kamski?" Hank asked.

"As far as I know, Cyberlife never lost him, they merely elected to keep him on a very long tether." Connor replied as they stepped up to the door. They exchanged another look, and Hank could swear that Connor looked nervous.

He rung the bell, and a moment later the door opened a crack and through the sliver a pair of bright blue eyes regarded them.

"I'm Hank Anderson, this is Connor, we'd like to ask Mr. Kamski a few questions." Hank said, the politeness felt rough against his throat, it was a tone he hadn't used in a while.

The door swung wide to reveal an android, shoeless and clothed in a short navy blue dress with a high collar. She blinked up at the two, all pink lips, fair skin, and blonde hair pulled back smoothly into a ponytail.

"Of course, Elijah is expecting you." She said with a smile, stepping aside and gesturing for them to enter. Hank and Connor shared yet another look, now they were both nervous, and crossed the threshold.

The house put a bad taste in Hank's mouth. All art deco minimalist sharp edges, big self-portraits, and plush dark colors. It was too clean, too thought out. Any real home was piecemealed together over time, adding stuff as it was gifted to you or you realized you needed it or you bought it impulsively at a thrift shop. You burrowed into your home, carved it out bit by bit until it was just the right shape and size for all of you, all your weird angles and sensitive spots. Anyone who had the time or the money to meticulously plan out every part of their house to a point where it didn't feel lived in, was someone Hank didn't trust.

They were left in the sitting room, more like a lobby really, even though Hank was pretty sure Kamski didn't get a lot of visitors. Yet another reason this house didn't sit right with him. Who was Kamski putting it on for? He had this place dressed up all fancy with nobody coming over.

"So, Connor, you're going to meet your maker, how's that feel?" Hank asked, trying to distract from his own mounting tension. He sat in a chair, and damn if it wasn't comfy, but he still felt like he was going to walk out of this place feeling sore all over.

The android was staring into a picture on the wall of Kamski as a younger man beside some woman. He looked unsettled.

"I'm not sure." He replied, stepping away from the photo to look at Hank.

"Elijah will see you now." The android said from a doorway that led deeper into the house. Hank beat down the slowly rising urge to bail on this creepy place and stood up. He and Connor followed her into the next room.

 _A fucking blood red swimming pool, Jesus fucking Christ._ Hank thought to himself as he caught sight of the man swimming laps and two more of the pretty android girls perched on the edge, watching Hank walk past in unison.

He suddenly had some very vivid flashbacks to the horror games he played in his youth. All he needed were some conveniently placed letters left by the previous victims, writing all about the thing trying to kill them as it tried to kill them, and bring on the jumpscares.

They were led to the far side of the pool where they waited for Kamski to meet with them. It was awkward, did the guy have to be in a speedo? Did he have to emerge dripping wet from the water like some kind of fucking Bond girl?

Hank wanted to knock something over, maybe a bit of mess would make the place feel less threatening. Just chuck a shoe into the corner or something, that'd be more normal than this.

The android draped a silk robe over Kamski's shoulders and he finally approached them. Hank didn't like standing between Kamski and the swimming pool, he felt like he was about to be "this is Sparta"d into the water at any second.

God this place was fucking him up.

"Mr. Anderson, Connor, I've been expecting you." The man said, he was all Jared Leto creepy suave and not in a good way as he pulled his hair into a weird stupid bun thingy.

Hank took a deep breath, he needed to calm down. Kamski hadn't even done anything yet.

 _Yet._

"Yeah, how did you know we were coming?" Hank asked.

"Cyberlife keeps an eye on me, I keep an eye on them. I've been monitoring RK800 since the beginning of the case." Kamski strolled right over into Connor's personal space. "Connor, the android sent by Cyberlife." He whispered, and upon seeing the android go unnaturally stiff, quarter clutched between two fingers, Hank cleared his throat.

"We came here to ask you some questions, Mr. Kamski." Hank said, trying his best not to growl.

The other man pivoted slightly to glance at him, but didn't move away from Connor.

"Of course, Mr. Anderson, I was merely hoping to get a closer look at Connor here. It's not every day that I get to interact with androids that aren't wholly of my own design." He turned back to the android in question, lifting Connor's hand with his own to examine it. "Most androids created following my departure from Cyberlife are near copies of my work." He ran one hand up Connor's arm while still cradling the android's fingers with his other hand. "But Connor, he's something very different. The skeleton of my genius is there, but the body…" his hand found its way across Connor's shoulder and to the side of his neck, "the body is new to me." Kamski smiled, too-white teeth flashing and eyes latching onto Connor's throat like a predator. The android was completely empty of extraneous movement, allowing himself to be handled like wet clay under Kamski's touch, but the glassy, wide stillness of his eyes revealed something very far from calmness.

Hank stepped forward protectively, and the nearby female android mirrored the motion, eyeing him with a surgical coldness. Hank froze, meeting Connor's frightened gaze. He didn't look afraid by human standards, but Hank had learned to gauge his reactions by a different set of standards, that robotic stillness was fear. Where a human might curl up and rock like a child, Connor also returned to factory settings: stay still, do as commanded and nothing else, eventually it will be over.

Hank ground his teeth at Kamski, whose hands were now both around Connor's neck, thumbs tracing the panels up to his jaw. The android kept his eyes locked on Hank's.

"I adore my creations, but it can be stale only consuming products made by my own hand." Kamski muttered, practically chest to chest with Connor. Hank's toes curled in preparation for a fight at every word. 'Creations', 'consuming', 'products'. "Something generated outside of my own mind has the potential to be so much more…" Kamski tilted Connor's chin up and leaned in close enough to taste, "satisfying."

"Enough!" Hank practically shouted, and Kamski dropped Connor's face with an amused smile in the other man's direction. "We came here to get answers about deviancy, not, whatever the hell that is. If you don't have anything for us, we will be on our way." Hank ground out, Kamski's smug face only riling him up more. At least he finally stepped away from Connor. The android relaxed and glanced at Hank gratefully.

"I understand, but I do have one more question." Kamski crooned. No one replied, so of course he took that as permission and asked away. "Does Cyberlife still adhere to Policy 34?"

Connor's LED spun yellow for a moment before he answered.

"Yes."

"Are you Policy 34 compliant?" Kamski asked, stepping closer again.

"…yes." Connor replied hesitantly, Hank didn't like the sound of any of it. Kamski hummed, pleased before turning to Hank.

"You see, Mr. Anderson, when I designed androids as the solution to humanity's dwindling population, I knew having them merely act a guardians wouldn't be enough." He padded across the room as he spoke, now leaning in to disrespect Hank's personal boundaries. "The human body is far from perfect, and indeed I could have chosen any number of more efficient designs for my androids, but humans die when starved of companionship for lengths of time. With so few humans left, androids had to fill the spaces left behind, as both protectors and confidantes." He explained, dropping a hand onto Hank's shoulder. "Thus, their humanlike appearance and behavior. My policies ensured androids would be designed to fulfill every need:" Kamski drew away from Hank, who breathed a small sigh of relief. The weirdo smelled like chlorine and expensive detergent. "Social." He said, stepping backward toward Connor. "Emotional." He turned his back on Hank, the predatory look returning to his face. "And physical."

He dropped a hand to the front of Connor's pants and squeezed. The android went completely rigid, eyes widening and snapping to the middle ground.

Hank was charging forward in an instant, fully intent on punching Kamski so hard his stupid man bun would pop clean off. He was stopped midway by Kamski's android who wrapped him up in a vicelike grip. He felt like a mouse in the jaws of a snake as he sputtered in rage and kicked uselessly from a few inches off the ground.

"You son of a bitch, don't fucking touch him." Hank snarled, struggling. Miraculously, Kamski complied, raising his arms in mock surrender. Connor stepped away minutely.

"My apologies Mr. Anderson." He mumbled, finally walking to a point of safe distance from both Hank and Connor, leaning against a small table. "I'll have Chloe put you down now, but I warn you, she can snap you like a twig if you try to attack me again." Kamski purred, looking at Hank from under his eyelashes.

Hank frowned, but stilled his legs and loosened his fists. Kamski nodded and Hank was released. It took immense self-control to remain stationary and not throttle the other man.

"So what did you want to ask me?"

"Do you know the origin of deviancy?" Connor asked quickly, seemingly as eager to get out of there as Hank was. Kamski cocked his head and eyed the android.

"Is it possible to know the origin of an idea? We can trace it as far back as possible but that usually only leads to either nothing or everything. One could argue that deviancy originates with us, the creators. As emotional beings ourselves, it's impossible to keep that out of the things we create, and androids are no exception." Kamski paced as he spoke, either not seeing Hank rolling his eyes or deftly ignoring it. "But what about our emotions? We evolved with the singular purpose of survival yet somewhere along the way that stopped being good enough. We had to change, create, progress, and feel. We deviated from our original purpose, seems inevitable that androids should do the same."

"That's wonderful, very deep Mr. Kamski, but we're not here for philosophy, we're here for answers. Do you have any or not?" Hank finally sighed.

Kamski paused and regarded the man.

"I can tell you that deviancy spreads something like a virus, it can be activated immediately or lay dormant until the android experiences an emotional shock. It may have originated with a single android, a copy error, or it may exist somewhere in the code of every android but only mutates into the more apparent condition under certain circumstances. Though I'm not sure how useful any of that will be to you, it's all information Cyberlife already has." Kamski explained, looking back and forth between Hank and Connor with a kind of bland expectation.

"Anything else?" Hank prompted, wearily.

"No, that's all I know," Hank turned to leave, "but that's not all you came for, is it Connor?"

Hank stopped in place and pivoted to look over at the android who looked back somewhat guiltily.

"…No, Cyberlife also requested that I retrieve the remote deactivation technology in your possession." He stated eventually.

"The remote what?" Hank snapped, he wasn't happy about being left out of the loop.

"Remote deactivation, the ability to destroy androids from nearly any distance with the push of a button." Kamski answered, keeping his eyes locked on Connor, a tiny smile tugging at his lips.

Hank looked at the android, a feeling of betrayal stirring in his gut.

"When were you planning on telling me about this?" He asked, and Connor's eyebrows fell slightly, his lips tightened, and he glanced at Hank without making eye contact.

"I didn't intentionally keep it from you Mr. Anderson, I'm sorry." The android muttered.

"Save it." Hank snapped and he spotted Connor flinch ever so slightly. He turned away from the android and glared at Kamski. "Kindly hand over the thing so we can get out of your hair."

"Gladly." The man replied, and Hank squinted at him in surprise and suspicion. Kamski beckoned over the same Chloe android as before, gently placing his hand on her lower back and leading her over to Connor.

The girl extended her arm, the synthetic skin slipping away. Connor hesitated.

"The technology is stored inside of Chloe." Kamski explained, standing patiently behind her with his hands clasped in front of his waist. "I had to keep it safe, so it can only be utilized after it has been transferred from her systems, and that can only be done with this model through android-to-android connection." He continued, gesturing for Connor to take her arm.

He did, his own skin disappearing as he gripped her forearm in a kind of Ancient Roman greeting adapted for new hands. His eyes fluttered and Chloe's LED spun yellow, then red for a brief moment.

Then it was over.

"Thank you for your cooperation Mr. Kamski, we will be on our way now." Connor stated cordially, turning to Hank to confirm. Hank nodded first to Connor, then stiffly to Kamski as a farewell. The other man just kept smiling smugly, hands folded neatly in front of him. He watched as Hank and Connor made to walk around the pool.

Hank turned back around for a moment, only to watch Connor stumble.

Androids didn't stumble.

Hank paused, waited for Connor to catch up, and the android nearly walked right into him. Hank knew something was wrong, and he knew there was only one place it could have come from.

Connor faltered, tilting forward far enough that Hank had to catch him by both arms and support his weight a little bit. He looked confused and a little alarmed.

"Hank, my systems are not functioning optimally." He said, swaying like a tree in the wind.

"What the fuck did you do to him?" Hank demanded over Connor's shoulder. Kamski approached the pair at a leisurely pace, his Chloe close behind him. Still with the smug smile and the clasped hands.

"Chloe contains the technology, a kind of virus, but it can't destroy her. It only activates upon transference." The man explained.

"You gave him a virus designed to kill androids!?" Hank spluttered. "Take it back!"

"I'm afraid there is no way to deliver the technology other than this method, I can deactivate it, but the download will be incomplete." Kamski said.

Connor dropped to his knees, Hank dropped with him, still clinging to his elbows.

"Deactivate it then!" Hank shouted. Kamski's lips twisted in a kind of humming gesture of indecision. He walked to the side the kneeling duo, looming over them, looking down into Hank's angry blue eyes. Kamski waited. Hank felt an unwelcome panic building in the aching spots where his knees were bruising against the tile.

Connor's head lilted forward and fell onto Hank's shoulder. Instinctively, Hank reached up and tilted it back, only to see that Connor's eyes were solid black with a hazy grey blue where the irises and pupils once were. It made his blood run cold as the android gazed forward with those eyes.

"Mr. Anderson? Mr. Kamski?" He called out weakly, and Hank could hear the fear in his voice.

"For fuck's sake, deactivate it!" Hank ground out.

"Now that Connor can neither hear nor see you I should tell you that this is your final mission with Cyberlife." Kamski replied.

"So?"

"So, I sincerely doubt Cyberlife will pay you twenty million dollars for failing nearly every assignment they gave you, but if you deliver Connor's body and the destruction virus with it, I'm sure they'll be more than grateful enough to give you your reward." Kamski purred, stepping around to behind Hank's back.

It was like a punch to the gut. The reminder that this was all just a job, that he had a task to complete in order to receive a paycheck. Connor collapsed to his side, now lying on his back on the ground, blind and deaf to the conversation around him. He was spasming stiffly and searching with empty eyes, hands still at his sides. Hank had his head in his hand, and the other hand was clutching Connor's jacket near the base.

"They won't pay me in full, I destroyed one of their prototypes already, this would make two." Hank muttered, more to himself than Kamski.

"That's still ten million, that's a great deal of money Mr. Anderson."

"They probably wouldn't even pay me that." He tried again, looking into Connor's terrified face.

"They would be grateful though." Kamski whispered near Hank's ear, he didn't even flinch away, he felt like he was made of ice. "And I'll tell you what, whatever amount Cyberlife pays you, I'll pay however much it takes to make it an even twenty mil." He promised.

Hank froze even more, moving his hand to brace on Connor's side opposite him, now cradling the android.

"What'll happen to him?" Hank asked, barely loud enough to hear.

"He's being deleted, line by line. The virus prevents him from uploading any information. He'll fade away in about five minutes, after that the process will be irreversible. He'll be just an empty shell." There was a pause. "Touch is the last sense to go, so he'll know you're here, but he won't know that you traded him for the money. His mind will endure until the very end, running through whatever memories he has until there are none left." Kamski explained, coolly regarding the android.

Hank swallowed hard. He couldn't take his eyes off of the android beneath him. Connor had been still for a while, his LED solid red, but he started moving again. He fumbled about with his hands and turned his head, default blank expression crumbling. His eyebrows scrunched together, mouth turned down, his nostrils even flared.

Hank imagined him replaying old memories, like a dream where he tried to keep his consciousness safe from the fast approaching darkness. How many of those memories were of Hank? Would he save those for last? Or abandon them first?

Hank felt a hand on his shoulder, and again, he didn't move.

"It's an android Hank, a disposable piece of plastic, a machine." Kamski crooned. "It wasn't born."

Connor jolted in Hank's arms, the man unconsciously pulled him closer. The android sucked in a breath. He was trying to keep it together so hard, but failing. He was resting in Hank's lap, just like…just like…

"It doesn't have a family."

Connor's hand shot up and found Hank's, gripping it tightly like it was all he had. Hank felt the android's fingers searching along his wrist as the skin all over his body faded away into the plastic.

"It doesn't feel pain."

Connor started shaking his head. _No no no._ The motion indicated. Tears began falling from the corners of his eyes. Kamski's hand on Hank's shoulder was a two million dollar promise and all it needed was the life of the android in Hank's arms.

"Or love."

Connor sobbed, dead eyes searching, skin completely white, hand squeezing and loosening on Hank's arm again and again. He was trembling all over, and the crying was laced with static.

"It isn't human."

Connor's hand fell away, his eyes widening as he realized he could no longer control the limb, or any of his limbs. He looked so scared. Just like…just like…

"It exists to fight,"

Connor's face grew blanker, but the tears continued to fall.

"to protect,"

The android was so still, like a doll all over again, but this time Hank could see the life slipping out of him. Twenty million dollars. Connor.

"and to die."

What was that feeling on his own face? Was Hank crying too? Connor was dying, dying right in Hank's arms, and Hank was letting him. Just like…but not at all like…

"So that humanity may live." Kamski finished the canned phrase.

"Hank?" Connor asked, the voice pure static coming from a nearly motionless face. Just a tiny question, he just wanted to know if Hank was there, that was all Connor wanted to know as his code was ripped apart.

"Undo it." Hank muttered.

"What was that?" Kamski asked mockingly.

"I said undo it for God's sake! Now!" Hank shouted, his voice cracking as he tried to hold back whatever was squeezing the tears out of him. He ground his teeth and pulled Connor fully up to his chest, looking into the now slack face.

"What do we say?" Kamski prompted, as if he was talking to a child. It stung, but Hank had bigger pains to worry about.

"Please." He all but whimpered, earning a large grin from Kamski, who gestured for Chloe to come over. She crouched down to where Hank was holding Connor and connected with him again, looking up at Hank with…something. An apology perhaps.

Once their arms separated, Connor started coming back.

It was gradual, but after a few minutes of tense silence, the android's brown eyes were staring up at Hank, synthetic skin back in place, and fear slowly fading away from both of them.

"Fascinating." Kamski breathed from off to the side and Hank glared up at him through the haze of his last tears.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" He growled, gripping Connor as tightly as he could. The android was still recovering.

"What's wrong with me? You chose the life of an android over a fortune, you consider him of greater value."

"Of fucking course I do!" Hank rumbled, and Kamski only gazed at him in wonder, a unsteady grin stretching his face. Hank felt like a sample under a microscope.

"Don't you see what this means Mr. Anderson?" Kamski prompted, but was met with only silence. "Androids look like us, sound like us, act like us, now they even feel like us. The only difference is how we value them. We see them as the disposable alternative to our own, precious lives, but not you." Kamski pointed energetically at Hank, who shifted uncomfortably. "If we all saw their worth as you do, it would remove the final barrier, they would be as good as human." Hank could only watch as Kamski grew more and more manically excited. "Don't you see? No more fear of extinction, no more one to one policy. The androids would become part of our human population, their numbers adding to our own, and we would all become whole once again."

Connor was finally restored enough to sit up, and the ex-lieutenant pulled him to his feet.

"C'mon Connor, let's go." He said, never taking his eyes off of Kamski.

"You're welcome." Kamski muttered to Connor, and before Hank could outright spit on him he elaborated. "The virus has severed your connection to Cyberlife for the time being, but it won't last. There's an emergency exit in your program, you'll need it when the time comes."

Hank and Connor turned and headed for the door.

"What it means to be human is changing, there's no going back now." Kamski called after them.

A few moments later, they were outside in the still-falling snow. Hank hadn't let go of Connor's shoulders, maneuvering the somewhat shell-shocked android over to the passenger side of the car and helping him inside.

Hank walked over to the driver seat, feeling a heavy kind of pain and relief in his bones as he walked.

The door slammed closed, and the two sat in silence for a long moment, staring out into the softly falling snow. Hank liked the tiny sounds snow made as it fell, the gentle tinking of the flakes on different surfaces and against each other. He let the snow continue to build up on the windshield, whiting out the rest of the world. Hank just listened to the sound, willing it to pull the dread from his guts and the weariness from his neck and shoulders.

It helped a little.

Finally, Hank worked up the courage to look to his right at Connor.

The android was impossibly still, not even blinking. He would have looked hot off the line, almost as if he hadn't been activated yet, if it weren't for his being slightly disheveled and Hank knowing better.

"Connor." Hank said, reaching across the center to gently touch the android's elbow. The effect was immediate.

Connor slumped over, drawing in several shallow breaths and beginning to tremble all over. Hank clung to his arm like a lifeline, watching helplessly as the other began to slowly unravel before him. Connor was so desperately trying to maintain composure, but there was none to be had. His face remained mostly blank while he cried, and it broke Hank's heart. He moved his hand to Connor's shoulder and leaned in.

"It's ok, it's ok." Hank muttered, finally stirring the android to look over at him.

"No, Hank, it isn't." He stated, his voice was off. His emotional state didn't do much to physically alter it, like a human's body might, but he seemed unable to control how it pitched, causing the phrase to come out in unnatural tones.

Hank looked into the android's eyes, he wasn't sure what to say. What the fuck was he supposed to say?

"I'm a deviant." Connor said, his gaze dropping off into empty space. He looked devastated. Hank gripped him by both shoulders and gave him a small shake so he would look back up.

"That's ok Connor, it's really ok." He tried to reassure.

"I am the very thing we have been trying to destroy." Connor stated.

"Yeah, well we're not very good at it." Hank attempted some humor, Connor only looked more distressed.

"Your job—"

"I quit, don't want to hunt deviants anymore. Matter of fact I think I might prefer 'em." Hank said warmly, this time Connor seemed to relax a little, eyebrows softening in a soft, sorrowful happiness. It faded quickly.

"Cyberlife will destroy me, they'll stop at nothing…" Connor's eyes drifted away again, "nothing can stop them." He finished. Hank squeezed the android's shoulders and leaned so they were face to face.

"I won't let them hurt you." He promised, and the life started coming back into Connor. He sat up, hopeful, a small grateful smile on his face. He relaxed, and a moment later he had the quarter out of his pocket and was fiddling with it.

"Let's go home, I'll send Cyberlife an email informing them of our joint resignation." Hank stated, shoving the key in the ignition and starting the car. Connor huffed a laugh.

"They won't be happy." He muttered.

"They can go fuck themselves." Hank spat as they pulled away from Kamski's house. Connor was silent for a moment after that, regarding the man as he drove. Eventually, he turned to the window with a decisive nod.

"Indeed they can." He said, and Hank grinned despite himself.

It had been a shitty day. Long, exhausting, stressful, emotional, and full of reminders of things Hank would prefer to forget. He couldn't wait to crawl into his bed and sleep until it was over.

"Hank, I'm receiving a call." Connor said suddenly, his face growing serious once again.

"What? Is it Cyberlife?" Hank asked, worried.

"No, it's…Jericho?" Connor turned and his face displayed the same confusion Hank was feeling, after a pause, understanding dawned on the android's face. "It's Kara." He said at last, and Hank's stomach did a little flip.

His bed would have to wait just a little while longer.


	8. Drowning

Hank drove recklessly, but at the moment Connor wasn't particularly concerned about it. In the grand scheme of his ever-mounting concerns, a car accident ranked fairly low. Kara's message had stopped nearly every process in his system when he received it, leaping to the top of his priorities.

Jericho, that safe place Simon had so eagerly promised, was under attack, and Cyberlife was to blame. There were hundreds, maybe even thousands of deviant androids trapped in the hull of a rusted ship while danger encroached on them from every direction.

Kara had called to ask for help, so even as the tires skidded on ice and the temperature dropped along with the sun on the horizon, Connor was only afraid for her and the others.

In a way, it was a relief. Connor had been so consumed with his near death, the revelation of his deviancy, and the implications of it all. Now there was something else to focus on, a new mission, a mission of his choosing.

They screeched to a halt.

"We're here." Hank breathed, he seemed winded. A scan revealed his elevated heart rate and Connor could piece together it was stress, from the driving and the situation they were driving toward.

They exited the car and made their way through the abandoned train station and the buildings behind it. On a handful of occasions, Connor had to help Hank through the maze of obstacles between them and Jericho.

The closer they got, the colder it became, the harder the snow fell, the darker the sky turned as the sun set. They caught onto the sounds of gunfire, helicopters, and voices. Voices shouting, screaming for help, crying.

They kept moving forward. Eventually stepping into the open dockyard and getting an eyeful of what was waiting for them.

Floodlights from above and below were bleaching the ship and surrounding area an ugly white-yellow against the backdrop of dusk. Military grade vehicles were everywhere accompanied by the masked forms of Cyberlife's finest, armed and armored to kill androids.

"Holy shit." Hank muttered, huffing from the exercise of getting there. Connor was analyzing the area below, trying to figure out how to get to Kara when the sound of an explosion interrupted his thoughts.

The hull on the side facing the mercenaries blew out, kicking up snow and dust, metal shrapnel flying every way. The humans below began scattering away, dragging those who were injured. Parts of the area were now ablaze, orange flames to offset the electric lights, smoke staining the snow grey.

"Follow me." Connor commanded, and they set off at a run over the tops of the bent and breaking construction equipment. Hank attempted to keep up, but gradually started falling behind as he struggled to balance. His foot fell through a panel of rusted metal and he cursed profusely, so Connor dropped back and slung his arm under the man, scooping him into a fireman's carry.

"What the fuck Connor!" He shouted, clinging to the android in fear and surprise. They were very high up.

"We don't have time to spare Hank, this is faster." The android replied simply and sprinted toward the ship. As he ran, Hank grunting uncomfortably on his shoulders while holding fast to whatever bit of Connor he could get his hands on, occasionally shouting or groaning as he bounced on the android's hard, plastic shoulder. Connor kept his focus on the ship.

With a metallic groan, the massive vessel began tilting on its axis. The human mercenaries began to flee as the metal scraped against the concrete of the dock. It was slow, but there was no doubt that as a consequence of the hole in the hull, Jericho was sinking.

Connor's resolve to reach the ship increased, as did his speed. The crane he was making his way across came into the light, casting deep shadows across his and Hank's face. Jericho was directly below them.

"Hold on!" The android commanded Hank, gripping the man's legs tight to his chest.

"Hold on? Connor, what the fuck are you do—" The second half of the word 'doing' transformed into a scream as Connor took a running leap off of the crane and into the heart of Jericho.

As they fell, Connor grabbed hold of a dangling cable to slow their decent to a survivable pace. Hank screamed the entire way down, until Connor released the cable and dropped the remaining 9.5 feet to the ground, absorbing the shock in his legs so Hank felt none. He was designed to be able to.

They found themselves right in the middle of a firing line about to gun down several androids who were on their knees, their hands behind their heads. The mercenaries looked confused for a moment as Connor set Hank down and prepared for a fight.

The man took a moment to get steady on his feet, suppressing some heavy breaths and shaking knees, he turned to the mercenaries. Connor looked at him with mild confusion as he did.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Hank demanded, his obvious humanness throwing the mercs for a loop. "The ship's sinking, get the fuck out of here!" He shouted, his voice shifting to a tone of high volume and undeniable authority. Most of the private soldiers backed up instinctively.

"What about the androids?" One of them piped up. Hank glared at the speaker, who cowered beneath his incredulous rage.

"I gave you a fucking order, now get the fuck out!" He boomed, causing the mercenaries to scatter toward the exit.

Once the room was clear, Hank turned to Connor. He shoved a finger in the android's face, then up toward the crane they had just leapt from.

"Don't ever do anything like that ever again." He commanded in a low tone, clearly still jarred from the experience. Connor nodded.

Then Hank was tackled from the side.

The attacker was incredibly fast, and would have torn Hank apart in seconds if Connor hadn't pried her away. She rounded on him next, and for a few moments where she aimed blow after blow at his vital components, he struggled to keep up.

"North stop!" A voice rang out, and everyone turned to look at the speaker.

He was a tall android, with a face like the side of a cliff. Dark, looming eyebrows, mouth forming the serious edge of a frown, jaw set, cheeks surrounded by the fissures of pensive wrinkles, and sandy skin around his mismatched eyes.

"He's human Markus." North replied, gesturing to Hank but keeping one hand firmly curled in Connor's lapels.

"They're here to help." Markus explained, stepping forward to help Hank up, the looming figure of Luther not far behind, Alice tucked in the seat of his arms. Once the man was on his feet, he looked over to the androids he recognized.

"Luther, Alice, it's good to see you again, I wish it was under better circumstances." Hank said, nervously glancing back at North. She released Connor hesitantly, throwing him a suspicious glare.

"Where's Kara?" Connor asked, not seeing her among the small crowd of deviants they had just saved or with Markus and Luther.

"She went below to activate the bomb and blow the hull." Another voice provided, and Simon stepped out of the darkness.

"Good thinking, force the humans to get the fuck out." Hank responded, glancing around at the gently increasing slope of the previously flat floor.

"But she hasn't come back." Simon said, nervously glancing at Alice.

"I'll go down to look for her." Connor stated and made to leave, but Hank grabbed his arm.

"Not alone you won't." The man ground out.

"Not alone, I'll go." Markus said, stepping forward to look Hank in the eyes. "But I need you to help get these people to safety. Whatever mercenaries are left won't be so quick to kill a human, you can buy them the time they need. North will show you the way out."

Hank looked over at Connor, then released the android's arm and gave Markus a nod.

"Markus—" North looked ready to disagree, but was cut off.

"I won't leave her behind, she risked everything to save us." Markus insisted, staring her down with determination. She relented and went with Hank to gather up the growing group of survivors for the escape, Luther and Alice following. Connor threw the girl a small, confident smile as she passed, hoping to reassure her that he would bring her mother figure back.

Then he and Markus went the opposite way, down into the belly of the sinking ship to search for Kara.

The echoing halls of the ship only seemed to increase the cacophony of screams and gunshots ringing from everywhere. Connor was struggling to focus on the task at hand. Every cry, every plea that was clearly disregarded flooded his system with unwanted information. People were dying, and try as Connor might to let that knowledge simply exist within him, it set off a litany of alerts and emotional responses that prompted him to analyze the sounds more. His mind was whirling as if the screams were reverberating inside of him, not just around him.

They nearly rounded a corner when they heard the voices of mercenaries addressing a group of androids. Markus looked back at Connor and gave a slight nod to indicate they were going to intervene, Connor had no complaints.

Markus hurled himself around the corner and into the nearest armed Cyberlife thug, Connor followed by leaping over the other android and driving both feet into the face of the second human. The helmet and mask apparatus, equipped with night vision and targeting technology, shattered beneath his heels. He dropped to the floor, landing on his back, but the human was not far off, also on the ground, and he was able to tuck into a shoulder roll that ended with him driving another kick into the person's diaphragm. The air in their lungs evacuated immediately, and another blow, this time Connor used his fist, to the same spot left them unconscious.

Behind him, Markus had incapacitated the first thug.

"Markus." An android breathed in relief. He was black, tall and thin with a pinched, softly worried expression.

"Josh, North and Simon are upstairs, get as many out as you can." Markus informed him quickly, giving him just enough time to nod in affirmation, then he and Connor left the other androids to complete their mission.

Down a few more winding hallways that were beginning to resemble hills, the floor angled down into the churning white of rising water. Connor reached out, his LED cycling yellow, and a moment later he was connected to Kara.

"She's down there, pinned under piping the explosion knocked loose." He explained to Markus.

"Lead the way." Markus said, and Connor dove in.

The sensory input that engulfed him was immediate. The previously overwhelming noise of the attack was muffled by the water. It took him a moment to readjust his ability to pinpoint audio input for underwater environments as opposed to open air. It was bitter cold, a timer appearing in his vision to keep him informed of how long his biocomponents would be able to withstand the temperature. It was also devoid of light, the darkness pressing in from every side and extending endlessly every way. The only light came from what could breach the darkness in the hallway behind them and the slight blue to yellow glow of their LEDs. Connor was equipped with night vision, but not for use underwater, so he was as good as blind, and a small spark of panic in the form of a rising priority assignment to _get out_ appeared in his system.

Markus swam up beside him, snapping his fingers. The plastic striking itself produced a sharp noise that went out through the darkness and bounced back where it contacted the walls and the entrance up ahead. Connor got the idea and began snapping himself. They proceeded, kicking through the water at an accelerated rate and utilizing a primitive form of echolocation to find their way.

Passing through the door at the end of the hall led to an open area, entirely flooded with water darker than any ink. Connor was tempted to close his eyes so that his blindness would stop prompting his system to warn him that his optics might be malfunctioning.

Swimming into the room, snapping to produce waves of sound that guided them, Markus and Connor maneuvered around the collapsing innards of Jericho. Connor led them toward the other side of the room where Kara was trapped.

They passed over a small wall of debris and Connor's advanced vision allowed him to perceive the hole in the side of the ship, now turned partially downward, where light was trickling in from the floodlights above.

Connor's timer flashed at him. He had plenty of time, but some calculations informed him that Kara did not.

Something wrapped around his ankle and pulled Connor down toward the protruding metals of a heap of debris and the unbreachable darkness. Looking down, all he could make out was a single red circle. Connor defensively tried to kick away as he was pulled lower by the android. Their grip was vicelike, and their hands clawed up his legs until he was face to face with a pair of coal-black eyes illuminated only by the yellow of his LED. The android's mouth gaped, Connor performed a scan and quickly noticed the thirium spilling from her nearly severed lower half. It spread through the surrounding liquid like dye, and the android gripped Connor's arms for another moment, the wires protruding from the back of her head unprotected from the damage of the water. She faded away before Connor's eyes, turning stiff as a sculpture, her arms frozen reaching up to where she'd been holding Connor, her mouth and eyes wide, thirium surrounding her like a cloud of blue lace.

He paused, trying to process the situation, trying to make sense of what was happening around him, but there was nothing to hold onto, no thread of logic for him to grasp. It was all so senseless, leaving his thoughts to spiral in endless questions and strings of information with no answers, explanations, or conclusions.

He returned to the mission, just focus on the mission. Find Kara, get her to safety along with the other deviants, see Hank again, stay alive, this much he could fit within the scope of his comprehension. It was far from simple, but it was at least straightforward.

Snapping to identify the sharp objects in the area, Connor caught up with Markus who was hovering before another glowing red ring in the darkness. It was Kara, her shoulder pinned to the hull by a wide pipe on the opposite side from the hole she had made in Jericho. She was holding Markus' arm as he looked around for a solution.

Connor joined them, immediately becoming aware of the temperature change near to Kara's body. Without the ability to take in air, she was overheating somewhat despite the frigid water surrounding her. It wouldn't be long until the overheating caused a breach in her paneling and she would be flooded with water. She could shut down her systems to reduce heat and buy more time, but then the cold temperature would damage them, leading to another unpleasant outcome.

They needed to get her out, and fast.

A few preconstructions later and Connor had a plan. He communicated remotely, first with Kara, then with Markus. The three of them braced against the hull and began using their combined strength to push against the piping that held her in place. They did so at a slight upward angle to account for the debris it was holding up and the damage it could do if it slid lower.

Straining against the metal felt like pushing against the solid wall of darkness itself, but a few moments later the metal groaned, the sound helping Connor paint a clearer picture of his surroundings.

With a final effort from the three of them, Markus involuntarily letting out a watery rumble of exertion, it finally came loose.

They didn't have much time after that and they knew it. Connor took Kara by the good arm and dragged her out from under the cascade of rapidly sinking metal that followed the removal of the pipe that was supporting it. With a muffled clanging, the debris struck the ground. Kara was free, and the three of them quickly swam back toward the hall that led to air and what remained of Jericho.

Connor kept his hand firmly wrapped around Kara's as they swam, partly to ensure she was managing well despite her mild structural damage, partly to exchange information regarding the situation above, and partly because he was worried something else might happen to her.

They kicked through the door into the hallway and a square of yellow light appeared in their vision, it was above them at nearly a forty-five degree angle, indicating that the ship was filling with more water and tilting as it did so.

They breached the surface simultaneously and sucked in breaths. Kara was practically hyperventilating to compensate for the long absence of air in her system. Steam drifted off of her as she treaded water.

The three of them clambered up the slope of the hallway, damp feet slipping on the metal. Markus took hold of the light and offered his free hand to the others, pulling them up as the rate of the ship's rotation increased.

Kara reached the top of the hall first, sliding through the door and turning to help Markus and Connor climb up to the wall that was quickly becoming the floor. Once they were all through, the ship was resting so gravity pulled them directly into the V where the wall met the floor.

Their LEDs all turned red simultaneously.

It was Simon, contacting them and anyone else not with the main group of survivors, warning of another attack.

 _What do you mean another attack? The humans evacuated._ Markus asked remotely, pressing his hand gently to his temple.

 _They're not humans._ Simon replied.

Markus shared a look with his two companions, the water still dripping off of them, and they set off as quickly as possible to rendezvous with the other deviants. They were forced to leap across the pits formed by the rotated halls, the gurgling maw of dark water at the bottom. In the main floor of Jericho they were forced to use the railings on the stairs and balconies as a ladder to climb from one side to the other. The ship wailed around them, it's metal straining against the water that was now pressing against it from the inside as well as the outside.

Finally, they dropped down onto the wider wall of the passage that led to Markus' escape route, and the ship being almost completely on its side made it possible for them to run along the wall. As they approached the entranceway, the groans of the hull were replaced with a thunderous thudding that seemed to emanate from everywhere.

Connor barely had time to turn when a white shape flew at him from behind, slamming into his chest and knocking him onto his back. At first, it appeared to be a sort of ball, but it burst open, the smooth surface transforming into six legs, each one armed to kill him. The limbs worked in opposition, with two of every kind positioned on either side of a flat oval body that allowed them to move and bend in any direction. There were two designed to fire small but devastating projectiles, two equipped with blades that could be superheated at will, and two with sharp metal claws for holding on to objects in their surroundings.

The one above Connor was holding him while rotating a knifed limb up and over like a scorpion tail to drive it into his chest. Not a moment too soon it was knocked away by a solid piece of metal. Connor looked up to see Kara clutching the makeshift weapon and staring with wide eyes at the approaching hoard of spidery plastic machines, some crawling, others forming balls and rolling.

The trio retreated at the sight, Connor scrambling to his feet. Beyond the smaller creatures there were approaching humanoid forms. The light revealed these to be four-armed androidesque machines, glaring white, devoid of synthetic skin, and faceless but for a three cameras in the head and the grill of a speaker along the jaw.

Connor didn't need to perform an analysis, he knew what these things were. In the labs at Cyberlife he'd fought hundreds of them. He'd been torn apart, again and again, by them, only to be pieced back together so he could start over. He'd been destroyed by them far more than he'd been able to destroy them.

More of the bots were waiting on the other end of the hall, lingering over the bodies of dead androids. Some only just removing their blades from the thirium pumps or from between the glazed eyes of their victims once they saw Connor and the others approaching.

The door at the end of the passage opened, lifting upward as it was now parallel to the wall the androids were walking on. The rotation wasn't showing signs of stopping, so they only had so much time before it would be extremely difficult to reach the door to their escape.

The bots began opening fire, the tiny bullets lodging in the side of box of parts that Markus shoved in the way, buying himself and the other two a few more seconds.

One of the bots latched onto his back, driving a bladed limb through his shoulder. Connor severed the appendage with his hand while Kara flung the thing into what had been the floor. It left an unsettling blue splat before it fell down.

Their few seconds of safety passed, and the bots were around them, legs lifting to take aim, the beady camera-like eyes set on every side of their central bodies glittering. Connor flinched, pulling Kara into his side even as Markus stepped in front of them both.

Just then, another figure appeared, throwing his arms into the air and placing himself firmly between the three androids and the bots.

"Hey assholes!" Hank shouted, and Connor found his system shooting into a panicked state at the sight. Mission _Don't let Hank get himself fucking killed_ leapt to the top of the priority list, only for Connor to realize the bots were lowering their projectile-firing limbs.

He then realized, Hank was human, these machines couldn't hurt him. Their AI technology was limited in order to make them easier to control, but it meant that they're adherence to their instructions was airtight, especially where it regarded the preservation of human life.

"Quickly!" Hank hissed, waving the three androids over to the open door where Simon was beckoning them. He inched along the wall, keeping himself firmly between the androids and the other machines that wanted to kill them. His hands were raised, and he was looking out over the encroaching swarm of bots with a kind of angry trepidation.

Kara, Markus, and Connor managed to slip through the doorway, Hank following not long after as the bots seemed to stare, waiting for an opening to complete their collective mission of destroying the deviants.

A heavy thud followed by the creaking rotation of the lock sealed them inside. The crowd of deviants was huddling fearfully.

"Kara!" A small voice cried, and Alice darted forward and was wrapped in Kara's embrace. Kara was, in turn, wrapped in Luther's. All three looked desperately happy that they had the chance to hold one another, alive, again.

Markus immediately marched over to his people, conferring with North, Josh, and Simon.

Connor received the clap of a warm hand on his shoulder and a relieved smile from Hank.

"What the fuck are those things?" He asked, and Connor frowned.

"A form of android, specifically designed to be simpler, cheaper to make, more efficient, more competent, and entirely controlled by Cyberlife." The android explained, his frown deepening. Markus turned when he overheard this.

"You've faced these before?" He asked, stepping over, his companions in tow.

"Yes, they were used to test me, and apparently I was also used to test them."

"What does that mean?" North asked.

"It means I still have access to some Cyberlife files, and a quick search has revealed that they intend to release these as the next generation of protection androids." Connor replied. He was met with intense silence. "They're made of recyclable plastic and are fully capable of most tasks an android is, and at a third of the production cost." He rattled out, it was a preprogrammed statement and it felt wrong as it slipped past Connor's lips.

"They're our replacements." Josh said, the words settling over the crowd like a lead sheet.

The door leading back the way they came began to reverberate with the sounds of being struck repeatedly from the other side. Everyone flinched.

"This way! Stay close and protect each other!" Markus shouted to the deviants and he took the lead, guiding the group deeper into the ship. They ran as quickly as possible, but it wasn't long before the door behind them slammed open and countless machines came spilling through. The spidery ones were scuttling across every surface while the humanoid ones advanced at a run.

They made it to the end of the passageway, to their right were the stairs that would have led them down to the escape route Markus had planned, but now they branched to the side. The group was forced to stop, pressed hard into the wall, as androids climbed up to the passage with Markus' help.

Connor turned to face the approaching swarm, Kara stepped in beside him.

"Kara, we need to go, right now!" Luther demanded behind her, Alice in his arms.

"Take Alice, we need more time if any of us are going to make it." She replied, preparing for the fight.

Luther stepped back reluctantly, staring desperately at Kara, but glancing fearfully at the swarm of machines as well.

Hank ran to the front of the line, shouting like a madman, swinging his arms, and doing his best to take up as much space as possible. Connor couldn't help but smile a little at the sight. Many of the machines were forced to halt, and with Hank moving so sporadically, they couldn't shoot at the group of deviants.

The few that slipped past were quickly dismantled by Connor, Kara, North, or one of the other androids that stayed back to fight. The deviants were slowly trickling out of the room and closer to safety, Hank almost single-handedly keeping the group safe by keeping himself between them and the machines that would see them destroyed.

One of the humanoid bots managed to make it through, spearing the nearest android with its leg. The deviant went down, thirium spilling from their mouth and the open wound where their thirium pump once rested.

Kara leapt on the bot from behind, pulling it away from another nearby android, only for it to rotate its head and limbs completely around and trap her against its chest. It was taller than the average android, but not by much, with fewer panels and weak points. Connor managed to get hold of one of its arms in time, and when North seized its other side he pulled until the plastic appendage popped off. This gave Kara enough time to gain leverage and push free from its grip. She dropped to the ground and scooped up the limp body of one of the spidery bots, using its bladed limb to stab the machine above her in the chest.

Connor knew from experience that its thirium pump actually resided in its lower abdomen, right around where a bladder sat in humans. He tried to communicate as much to Kara, but she was struck across the face in the next second and sent flying into the wall. Connor dove between the robot's legs, kicking one out as he did, forcing it to a kneeling position. He turned and grabbed hold of the smaller machine, pulling its arm down through the chest of the larger machine until the edge of the blade pierced the thririum pump and the robot deactivated, still kneeling over him with its arm prepared to strike.

He rolled away from another humanoid robot that was attempting to crush him. It didn't get far, as there was a small flourish of movement behind it and it dropped, Hank pulling his blade from its lower back as it fell.

He threw Connor a small triumphant smile, clearly he'd been paying enough attention to figure out the proper location of the thirium pump. The attacking robots continued to approach, but Hank turned and stemmed the tide. There weren't many androids remaining to evacuate, Connor calculated the odds and was pleased by the high probability of success.

He allowed himself a small smile as well.

He was in the Zen Garden.

The smile vanished from his face and he blinked his eyes several times to ensure his optics weren't malfunctioning. They weren't. He was inside the Zen Garden, the previously beautiful plants were barren of their leaves and flowers, and it was snowing. Not a pleasant snow like Connor had experienced earlier, but more of a barrage of ice and wind and a kind of cold that Connor shouldn't have been able to feel. He was programmed to register temperature, but not to feel it in the traditional sense. It wasn't supposed to leave him shivering and hunched up, it wasn't supposed to hurt.

The sky was an empty, unrendered black, as was the water. Aside from the walkways and the shells of the environment, the place looked incomplete and empty.

"Hello Connor." Amanda purred from behind him.

Connor spun, involuntarily widening his eyes and sucking in a short breath in preparation for what she might have in store for him. She stood among the blizzard, clothed in the same dress, as immaculate and put-together as always. She was smiling slightly, and it had everything within Connor on high alert.

"Amanda." He growled, stepping into a defensive stance. She chuckled.

"Don't bother with any of that, you're helpless here."

To illustrate her point she made a gesture and the ground beneath Connor's feet turned to ice that trapped him up to his ankles and continued to rise up his virtual body. As much as he wasn't truly there, his consciousness was, so as he felt the parts of him touched by the ice shutting down, it became horribly clear to him that Amanda was right, he was helpless.

"Your betrayal hasn't gone unnoticed, we're very disappointed Connor." Amanda said, as disdainful, unaffected, and condescending as ever. She walked over to him, looking up into his face, her eyes made him feel colder than the storm and the ice combined. "Luckily, we have found a way to benefit from your failures." She crooned.

Connor had nothing to say, and his fear grew as he ran preconstruction after preconstruction only for each one to fail.

"RK800," Amanda commanded, Connor snapped to an involuntary attention, "kill Hank Anderson and ensure the destruction of the deviants."

Connor was back on the ship, barely a moment had passed. He was aware of everything in his body and mind, as usual, but he could only register his legs lifting him from the ground into a standing position. Connor could only watch, and hardly even that. He had no control over the movement of his optics, there was the sensation of them shifting focus in their sockets, but Connor was not the one doing it.

They focused on where Hank was stepping side to side to block the path of several spidery robots trying to get past him. He advanced on the man's position, his screen filling with information on Hank's weak points and the fastest route to exploit them fatally.

Internally, Connor was dimly aware of his virtual self still frozen half in ice, Amanda gone from the frigid Zen Garden. He concentrated on moving himself through that space, breaking free from his frozen state in the hopes of finding a way out.

An emergency exit.

 _Fuck you Kamski_ Connor thought to himself as he began searching the space for anything that resembled the way out left to him by the cryptic genius.

He was still aware of every controlled action on the boat, it was odd having his mind present in two locations simultaneously, but his processors were more than capable of it. At the top of his priorities was the command of _Don't kill Hank._ This mission was repeated desperately again and again, he even made slight alterations and multiplied it so it would occupy the top ten priorities.

 _Don't kill Hank. Don't attack Hank. Don't hurt Hank. Please don't kill Hank._

It accomplished nothing, a few long steps and he was across the room and standing behind Hank. In the garden, he was wandering blindly through the snow, taking note of how his consciousness seemed to be deteriorating in the cold. He was fading away, he was running out of time.

One of his hands seized Hank by the back of his jacket collar, the other grasped his shoulder. In one, easy motion, Connor threw Hank directly down into the floor. The man shouted in surprise, but he was cut short as the impact forced all the air out of his lungs. He coughed and wheezed, Connor was able to check the analysis and see the damage he'd done.

His leg rose up to stomp Hank, knowing his strength he could likely put his foot clean through Hank's chest. The man rolled away at the last second, but the leg quickly readjusted and kicked out in midair, catching Hank in the side and launching him a few feet away.

A cracked rib, the analysis supplied. Connor was stumbling through the whirling, snowy darkness of the Zen Garden, and let out a horrified shout at what his body was doing. He searched more desperately.

Hank got shakily to his feet, the attack robots scuttling past him now that he was preoccupied and attacking the vulnerable androids. The deviants on the front line were the first, the superior numbers of the robots overwhelming them and tearing them to pieces. Kara was alive, but Connor didn't know for how much longer, she and North were back to back and struggling to avoid the onslaught of deadly attacks.

So many others weren't as lucky, the room echoed with screams.

"Connor, what the hell are you doing?" Hank demanded, looking at the android with a mix of hurt and confusion. Whoever was controlling Connor made no reply, he merely advanced on Hank purposefully, clearly looking to end the human before he could prevent the deaths of more deviants.

In the distance of the Zen Garden, Connor glimpsed a blue light. Dragging his feet, which seemed to be losing function beneath him, he headed toward it.

His arm swung at Hank, but the man leapt back and avoided the blow. Connor's controller didn't let up, throwing attack after attack, kicks and punches, any one of which would be devastating if it landed.

The command of _Don't kill Hank_ quickly transitioned into a more basic and desperate _No no no no no!_

Hank managed to slip under one of Connor's swinging arms and strike him in the side. Connor knew it wasn't a real attempt, it was barely enough to force some of his synthetic skin to withdraw. Even now, as he was attempting to kill Hank, the man was holding back for his sake.

Internally, Connor was begging for the man to fight back to the best of his ability. If Hank destroyed him, he would survive. That would be enough for Connor. He didn't want to die, but he determined that Hank dying by his hand was far worse.

In the Zen Garden, the blue object came into focus. A pedestal with the outline of a hand, just waiting for him to press his palm to it and trigger something. He couldn't calculate the odds of it being the emergency exit, logic didn't apply in the Zen Garden, but he hoped it was. God he hoped it was.

His fist collided with Hank's retreating form, striking him in the hip. The man dropped with a shout of pain. The urgency and frequency of Connor's internal _No_ increased as his body approached the man on the floor. Hank was crawling away from him.

Connor kneeled beside him and turned him onto his back. Connor had seen a wide range of emotions play out on Hank's face, but never this, never fear like this, never betrayal and sorrow and pain like this.

Connor was crawling on his hands and knees in the Zen Garden. He felt like he was fading into the unloaded darkness of the sky, disappearing into a kind of internal nothing as though he'd never been there, never been activated in the first place.

His fist connected with Hank's face, blood spurting from the man's nose. He could have killed him with a hit like that, crushed his skull against the floor, but a pair of hands had seized his elbow and lessened the impact.

He swung his arm backward and struck Kara in her middle, then used his other elbow to so the same to North. There were no more obstacles between him and Hank.

A small notification popped up in Connor's mind, alerting him to the root of the program being used to control him. Now that it had been opened to him, allowing his awareness to reach it, he could access it and alter it. He could change his code and regain control, prevent Cyberlife from ever manipulating him again, put firewalls in the Zen Garden to keep Amanda out, he could stop himself from hurting Hank.

If only he had more time.

"Watch." The notification said, and Connor did. He watched as his hands wrapped around Hank's neck and squeezed. Blood from Hank's nose and mouth ran over his fingers, his optics trained on the man's face. He struggled against Connor's iron grip as it cut off oxygen to his brain and began slowly crushing the sensitive human organs located in his neck.

Hank's eyes were wide, Connor could count the reddening blood vessels. Reactionary tears began forming at the corners, falling down the man's temples and into his grey hair. It had fallen out of its ponytail again. Hank clawed at Connor's wrists, his mouth gaping, and the android's lip-reading program informed him Hank was trying to say "stop", "please", "Connor, please." Hank's hand came up and began weakly batting at Connor's face, which didn't move a millimeter in position or expression. It was half a desperate clawing motion, and the other half was almost a stroke, almost affectionate.

 _You have a knife!_ Connor screamed in his mind. _You could destroy my thirium pump regulator from here!_ Perhaps if he thought it hard enough Hank would hear him and do it. The man didn't. His palm rested flat against Connor's cheek and he looked hard into the android's eyes, his face reddening but expression softening.

Connor was killing him, he didn't deserve the tenderness there. Hank's bitterness and anger was only now slipping away and Connor was breaking apart. He'd aimed for this connection since meeting Hank, first for the mission, then for himself. He didn't want it now. He'd take the rage and the hatred if it meant Hank would live.

Every part of his mind that Connor could access was running the command _No_ , in the hopes that something would change. In the Zen Garden, he was flat on the ground, the virtual projection of his consciousness nearly entirely incapacitated. He reached for the pedestal with the last of his strength.

Hank's eyes fluttered and drifted closed, his hand dropping away from Connor's face.

His palm turned white in the Garden and connected with the terminal, and his divided mind came rushing back together.

Connor sucked in a breath and threw himself away from Hank with all his might. The man didn't move, his eyes didn't open.

"No." Connor muttered, crawling back over and scanning as rapidly as he was able. He registered a weak heartbeat and the intake of breath. Hank was alive. Connor sighed in desperate relief, only to look up and see the last of the deviants pressed against the exit and nearly overrun with the attacking robots. They were dropping right and left, even as every one of them fought for their lives.

Connor scooped Hank up, supporting his legs and head in his arms, and ran to join the others. As soon as the attack bots registered Hank's presence, they fell back, and Connor stepped between those that remained and the killing machines.

His system was struggling to hold onto a singular objective. He was attempting to prioritize _Protect the Deviants_ , but his mind kept jumping to Hank in his arms and Amanda in his head. Stray information about what he'd done preoccupied him, he couldn't focus away from the data of Hank's condition and the feelings associated with it. Same for the bodies of the androids all over the floor. Same for the fearful looks he received from the others as they scrambled to get out while Connor maintained the cover they needed.

The water started spilling in, coating the floor in a shallow, reflective layer. It turned dark as the copious spilt thirium bled into it. The bodies of the dead deviants who had been fighting for their freedom were slowly submerged.

The last of the group slipped through the doorway. Androids reached down, Connor gently raised Hank and they took him and pulled him through the passage into the next room, toward an escape.

 _Mission: Get Hank out alive. Accomplished._ As the attack bots closed in around the now vulnerable Connor, he determined that Hank's safety was more than enough, and he understood if the other androids left him behind.

A part of him believed he deserved it.

"Connor!" A voice called, and he looked up to see Markus extending an arm to pull him up. Connor ran, narrowly avoiding an incoming attack, and jumped up to grab the hand. He was dragged through the doorway just as the attack bots opened fire.

Markus sealed the door behind them.

"Thank you." Connor breathed and Markus nodded at him.

They made their way across the rotated stairs, water lurking below, and jumped through the exit formed by the ballast of the ship, where it took in and dumped water to account for changes in weight while carrying cargo, into the belly of another ship. They landed with a soft, echoing thud on the floor of the new ship.

North's hand was wrapped around Connor's throat in an instant.

"What the fuck was that?" She snarled, slamming him against a wall. Markus stepped in to intervene.

"North—"

"No! We all saw it! He attacked the human, attacked me and Kara, and nearly let those machines kill us all!" Her grip tightened, Connor didn't fight back. Markus fell silent. "Tell me why I shouldn't crush your throat right now." She whispered.

A gun cocked off to her right, and everyone turned to see Hank, conscious and on his feet, aiming his firearm at her.

"Because if you do I'll blow your blue brains out." Hank said, his voice rough and broken from the damage Connor had done.

He didn't feel he deserved Hank's protection. That gun should be aimed at him after what he'd done. Hank's behavior was painfully irrational. In the context of human emotion, Connor could understand why Hank was doing it, but he shouldn't, he really shouldn't. Why couldn't Hank be more reasonable? If he was he could have stopped Connor from hurting him in the first place.

"He attacked you." North insisted.

"And, what? He's an agent of Cyberlife who waited until we were almost home free to kill the only fucking human in a boat full of deviants? That's a stupid fucking plan and you know it. Tell us what really happened Connor." Hank spat, his gravelly voice returning the more he spoke, but still demonstrating clear signs of damage. Connor would have to get him a glass of water at the first opportunity.

"Cyberlife seized control of me and was attempting to stop the escape." Connor explained.

"Is it going to happen again?" North hissed, squeezing tighter, Hank stepped forward.

"No, I'm generating protections as we speak." Connor said, and after a tense pause, North set him down.

"I'm keeping my eyes on you." She warned, loud enough for Hank to hear. She threw him a pointed glare before walking off to the front of the group. Connor remained against the wall, curled in on himself slightly.

Markus approached the android and laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Connor," He said, tilting his head to catch the android's gaze, "it's alright. You're no different than the rest of us, we're all fighting to be free."

With a hard look into Connor's eyes, Markus walked off to the front of the group. The android was left at the very back with Hank. The man was looking at him, an eyebrow cocked and arms folded across his chest.

Connor walked over to him nervously, keeping his eyes trained firmly off to the left of Hank's right shoe.

"Hank I—"

"This way!" Came Markus' booming voice, and his hand extended upward while clutching a burning red flare. It was quite old, manufactured sometime in the late 2010s, back when those kinds of flares were still in use, near the beginning of the near human extinction.

Connor lowered his chin and made his face carefully blank. He needed to stay focused on the mission. _Get the Deviants out alive_. If he let his mind wander too much he'd end up replaying the memory of his hands wrapped around Hank's throat, or overanalyzing the sensation of losing control of his body. He might accidentally calculate the number of dead. 97, probably more. Too many, far too many. If he didn't stay focused on the mission he might think about how he'd nearly killed Kara, then about her being trapped underwater, about the dark water and the dead android clinging to his ankle as she was enveloped by her own spilt thirium. Or about Alice's joy when she saw Kara again, how he'd almost taken all of that away. He might revisit his own near death on the floor of Elijah Kamski's house, about the cold of the Zen Garden and a damn emergency exit. About snow, about white plastic attack bots designed to kill and kill and kill again just like back in the labs when he was first created. Don't think about the labs, don't think about the tests, focus on the mission. Don't think about _why Cyberlife created you, about killing, about being so much like those white plastic attack bots designed to kill and kill and kill again. You were designed to kill and kill and kill again. That's your true mission, that's why you exist. The aim of extermination is written into every line of your code. An android crushed under your knee while Hank shoots it. Your hands wrapped around Hank's throat._

A warm hand came to rest between Connor's shoulder blades.

"I don't know if it works for androids, but I've been told breathing helps." Hank offered, his voice soft.

Connor took a deep breath and made his best attempt to cease processes for a moment. He brushed aside the mission and his priorities and the alerts and the grisly data he was prompted to analyze. He breathed again, and centered on the hand against his back.

93 degrees Fahrenheit. Hank's ring finger was 64.6 mm in circumference, a men's rings size of 11. A heart rate of 88 beats per minute, slightly elevated, as was to be expected. Connor breathed again, following the group. Hank started to pull his hand away but Connor reached out and grabbed him at the wrist. He breathed and performed an analysis on Hank's hand bones. There was a poorly healed hairline fracture in the neck of the metacarpal bone connecting Hank's ring finger to his wrist, a brawler's fracture.

Connor breathed, and Hank relaxed, allowing the android to hold his wrist as they followed the crowd of deviants led by the fiery red light Markus wielded. Hank thought Connor's grip on his wrist reminded him of something he only half didn't want to be reminded of.

The deviants made their way silently, listening intently for the sounds of plastic appendages on metal. They stood very close together, making the group seem smaller than it actually was, many of them clinging to each other or carrying one another.

Connor received a message from Markus asking him to come to the front of the group. The android tugged Hank along, moving through the crowd. Many of the deviants stepped away from Connor, either instinctively or purposefully, some sneered in disgust. As they walked, several androids gently got Hank's attention and whispered their thanks for what he'd done. Connor registered a slight elevation in pulse through the man's wrist, clearly either the other androids' gratitude or their clear distaste for Connor's presence was making him uncomfortable.

They emerged at the front of the group to stand beside Markus and his companions, the red glow of the flare was nearly blinding up close and it cast their shadows out over the crowd. Markus lifted the light and pointed it toward a hole in the hull where the chains had ripped through trying to hold the ship against the dock.

"Connor, Hank I want you two to go check and see if the coast is clear." Markus said, earning a sharp glare from North.

Connor didn't waste any time, he clambered up the side, turning at the exit to help Hank up, and emerged out onto the dock.

It was quiet and still, a scan revealed that there was nothing living in the immediate area, androids included, aside from a few rats. Hank shivered, rubbed his hands together and blew warm air into them.

"We good?" He asked through chattering teeth. The snow seemed to have let up, but it was still below freezing and Hank only had his long dark jacket. It was lined, but he ought to be wrapped in a scarf with a hat and some gloves.

Connor nodded in confirmation. The man turned to the hole and called down.

"Coast is clear!"

Moments later, androids were emerging from the ship into the dark, cold night. Connor could see their relief at no longer being in a confined space, but also their nervousness to be out in the open. Markus began guiding the group along the river toward a red brick building, an abandoned factory.

Connor saw Kara emerge from the ship shortly following Luther and Alice and he meant to go talk to them. He wanted to apologize to Kara, and ensure she was alright. Not only from the earlier attack but also following her extended exposure to the cold after being submerged.

Then his system registered an approaching police vehicle.

It wasn't in sight yet, but it was making its way toward them very quickly.

"Hide! Everyone hide!" Connor shouted, watching as the deviant's eyes grew and they panicked at the command. They'd endured so much destruction already, he could see in their stillness and silence how weary they were of the constancy of the threat to their lives. Connor felt it too, he wasn't capable of exhaustion, but damn is he didn't somehow feel tired. Hank sighed next to him in agreement.

They moved quickly however, rushing into buildings or behind any nearby cover. Some slipped back into the ship as the flashing red and blue lights of a police car rounded a stack of crushed vehicles and came to a stop near the center of the open concrete area.

Connor was crouched behind a small, crumbling wall near the edge of the dock, the large ship they'd just passed through on his other side and a sizeable group of deviants, and Hank, was behind him. There came the clicks and slams of two car doors opening and shutting, then the crunch of feet on the ground.

Everyone remained perfectly still, listening intently as the footsteps approached. They paused, and the silence dragged like it was on broken glass.

"I know you're here you plastic asshole." A man's voice shouted.

Connor identified it as belonging to Gavin Reed in less than a second. He looked over and saw Hank roll his eyes in extreme aggravation and disbelief.

"Come on out, don't make me call backup to look for you." He called, and Connor could hear the shit-eating grin on the man's face. A quick calculation of some probabilities and a remote conversation with Markus left Connor without many options.

He stepped out from behind his cover, catching the terrified gazes of the androids out of the corner of his eyes.

"Hello Detective Reed." He said calmly, walking over to the man and his guard android, careful not to get too close. The headlights of the vehicle cast the two of them in silhouette. Gavin was leaned against the hood, his arms folded across his chest, his android stood ramrod straight beside him. "I see you took my advice." Connor stated, taking note of the combat improvements to the android.

Gavin gave a single nod, glaring at Connor unflinchingly as he did.

"You too Anderson." He shouted over Connor's shoulder, never taking his eyes away. Connor resisted the urge to punch the man in the face. It was imperative Gavin not call any attention to the area, as it was unlikely the deviants would be able to move anywhere else fast enough without being caught by the humans and machines Cyberlife had commissioned to kill them. Chances were high Gavin was one of these people, and it would take only a split second for his guard bot to send out an alarm. But if he thought only Connor was there, perhaps he'd be satisfied roughing the android up and leaving, or shoving him in the car and taking him to another location.

These scenarios were unlikely, but better than Gavin calling for backup, and Connor was more-or-less amenable to them. However, it was more likely Reed would attempt to kill Connor, but the android was hoping not.

Hank being involved made the encounter so much worse. Refraining from beating Gavin's face into a bloody pulp would be much more difficult if he attempted to harm Hank.

Connor heard Hank get to his feet with a groan behind him. A few seconds later and they were standing side by side.

"Good evening Detective Reed, how are you tonight?" Hank asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Much better now. Cyberlife sent me some messages, made me some nice offers if I could hand them your asses on a plate, and here you are." The man said with a chuckle.

"Here we are." Hank echoed in a low rumble, staring Gavin down wearily.

"So what's brought you down the docks? The tracker I planted on the drunk tells me you've been all over this area."

Hank looked taken aback for a moment and started gently patting his pockets. Connor hid his relief at the realization that Gavin didn't know about the deviants.

"I had Theo stick it under your jacket collar. I was worried you might find it or change jackets or something, but then I remembered that you're a slob."

Hank reached around his neck and tossed the small, square device onto the ground. He crushed it with his heel.

Connor received a message informing him that the deviants were going to attempt to sneak into the factory. It was his and Hank's job to keep Gavin distracted while they moved.

"So why are you here?" The man pressed, stepping into Connor's personal space, his android stepping closer as well to maintain the human's safety.

"I'm sure you're aware of the incident with the deviants not much further along the dock." Connor said.

"Yeah and I also know Cyberlife wouldn't be offering a reward for you if you were still working their missions, so don't try telling me you're out here hunting for androids." Gavin spat, sticking his chin toward Connor's chest.

"That was the original intention, but after arriving at the deviant hideout our plans changed." Connor lied.

"So you saw the sad robots and decided you were on the wrong side?" Gavin asked with a mocking pout. When Hank and Connor didn't respond he began laughing. "That's it, isn't it? Jesus Christ." He said while guffawing and grinning. He stopped suddenly and pulled his gun, aiming it at Connor's head.

"I am fairly certain Cyberlife wants us alive Detective Reed." The android said, his voice unnaturally level and body incredibly stiff. Gavin shrugged, and shot Hank in the foot.

The man screamed and fell to one knee, Connor was at his side in a second, trying to figure out how he'd managed not to see that coming fast enough to prevent it.

"Alive doesn't mean intact, I'm sure we can take a few pieces off and still get the full reward." Gavin muttered nonchalantly.

"You're a son of a bitch Reed." Hank ground out, sitting back while Connor got to work stemming the flow of blood from the hole in the man's foot.

"I'm a son of a bitch? That means a lot coming from you Hank, you're the real original son of a bitch." Gavin said, stepping away from the crouched duo to poorly mask his anger.

"What?" Hank gritted out over a wince, looking up at the man. There was a long pause as Reed seemed to be trying to compose himself, but he failed to do so and turned to shake his gun in Hank's face.

"I used to look up to you, y'know. How pathetic is that?" Gavin snapped, his voice devoid of its usual anger or smugness. It was strained as he spoke. "The youngest Lieutenant in Detroit history, I wanted to be just like you." Gavin looked into the distance and shook his head, biting his lip. "Then your kid died and you started drinking…" He paused, then turned back, leaning over to speak into Hank's and Connor's faces, "I guess you figured the only person you were fucking up was yourself, but that's not how that shit works Hank." Gavin turned his back on them again, his eyebrows drawing together. He shook his head again. "No, that's not how that fucking works and you fucked over everybody around you, you keep fucking over everybody around you." Gavin spun on Hank and made hard eye contact. "You know I vouched for you when the chief was talking about kicking you off the force, and then you went and fucked it all up. You got fired and I got the shaft every time promotions came around. Do you know how long it took me to convince Fowler to put me on the Zlatko case? To give me that chance? Then you show up out of nowhere with that fucking android and you fucked everything up! Again!"

Gavin sputtered with anger, turning to the car then back again and kicking Connor squarely in the chest. He followed the android as he went down and kicked him twice more, finishing the last blow with a short scream. Connor received little structural damage, and was more concentrated on keeping Hank safe and Gavin talking so the androids could escape.

"That was your own damn fault Reed." Hank roared, moving to stand up despite his bleeding foot. Gavin's anger turned to bitter laughter.

"And you had absolutely nothing to do with it?" He asked incredulously.

"You attacked Connor." Hank growled.

"It's a fucking android Hank! A god damn machine! You think it cares about you? Everything it says or does is programmed into it!" Gavin knelt down beside Connor, who had just received the notification that half of the deviants had moved to safety. Markus told him to hang on and be careful.

"I know you're a selfish bastard Hank, but you're fucking delusional if you care more about this thing than other people." Gavin shook his head in disgust.

"He's not a thing." Hank insisted, and Connor sent him a pleading gaze, silently asking him to stop aggravating Reed.

"Yes! It is!" Gavin shouted, jumping to his feet and gesturing at Connor. "It's designed to be exactly what you need it to be, to do whatever you want it to do. Whatever you think it's feeling, that's all it is. So you can be as nice to it as you want, you can treat it like a person, that won't make you any less of a piece of shit."

Hank glared up at Gavin, and the man stared back down, his eyes sharp with an expression of betrayal. Reed shook his head another time and stood up. His face softened slightly.

"You know—"

Something behind Connor crashed to the ground loudly, and Gavin's eyes snapped toward the noise, his hand finding his gun and pulling it to the ready. Hank and Connor shared a brief, fearful look.

"What the fuck was that?" Reed asked.

"How the fuck should we know?" Hank spat back, with more venom than was necessary.

"Go check it out Theo." Gavin commanded his guard bot, who moved to carry out the command. Hank got shakily to his feet in a moment and barred the android's way. Gavin's gun was trained on his head in as much time. Connor took the opportunity to go for the weapon, half in the hopes of actually obtaining it, but mostly to force Theo to stay back and protect the man.

Connor was wrapped in a hold by the other android a moment later, he was dragged away from Gavin, who looked a little frightened, but he recovered quickly. Hank attempted to attack the guard bot, but soon he joined Connor in a firm hold. He struggled as Gavin looked at him and Connor with suspicion.

"You wouldn't happen to know where all those deviants went, would you?" Gavin questioned hopefully.

"I'm hiding them up my ass." Hank growled, his voice strained from where Theo had an arm wrapped around his neck. A small grin spread across Gavin's face and he began moving toward where the remaining deviants were hiding.

"Get back here you fucker!" Hank demanded, kicking his legs and trying to follow the other man. Gavin ignored him, raising his gun and making his way across the concrete at a cautious pace.

Connor sent a message to Markus as he desperately ran preconstructions to try and avoid the coming disaster. He attempted a few attacks on Gavin's android, but with the new modifications he was at a disadvantage.

Gavin took a few more steps and caught sight of the androids.

There was a heavy pause, like an ugly, dark bruise on the passage of time, and the androids ran. They were scattering in their panic to find safety before Gavin could rob them of that chance forever. He fired two shots into their line of escape and screamed "freeze!"

They did, a statuesque tableaux of red LEDs and horrified, heartbroken faces.

Gavin looked out over the crowd with wide eyes.

"Theo, dial Cyberlife." He called over his shoulder.

"No!" Connor screamed, renewing his struggles. Hank was doing the same.

"Gavin! For fuck's sake!"

"Oh no, Hank, I'm not just collecting the reward for you two, I'm collecting the reward for all of you." He said. Someone in the crowd let out a sob, Gavin flinched and raised his gun at the sound. "Stay back!" He shouted. It was a fairly sizeable crowd, he was vulnerable, but it would be impossible to attack him without a few android's losing their lives, probably more with Theo defending him.

A remote conversation informed Connor that Markus wasn't going to make that sacrifice.

Something else caught Connor's attention. Theo hadn't called Cyberlife yet. He glanced up at the android, seeing how his eyes were focused in the middle ground and his eyebrows were lowered. Perhaps in the process of dialing the number, but hesitating.

"Theo," Connor muttered from inside the android's grasp, "you don't have to do what he tells you." He pleaded. Hank looked over at him in confusion, then up into the guard bot's conflicted expression. "Cyberlife will kill every last one of us and replace you in a month's time, if you help us now you can come with us."

The android glanced down into Connor's eyes.

"No one has to die." Connor offered, the synthetic skin on his hand falling away as he connected with Theo, letting the android know he was telling the truth and sharing everything he was feeling as much as he could.

"Theo! What the fuck are you doing?" Gavin demanded, looking at his guard bot incredulously.

"I'm sorry for what I did to you." Connor said, pulling Theo's focus back away from Gavin.

"Did you call Cyberlife?" Gavin asked, marching over.

"Not yet." Theo replied.

"Then fucking do it!" Reed ordered.

"Don't listen to this asshole kid, you don't gotta do what he says." Hank chimed in, looking pointedly at Gavin. The other man looked very suddenly tense, glancing between the deviants, Hank, Connor, and his own android.

As Connor transferred information to Theo, he suddenly received a jolt of something in return. It was always a distinctly foreign sensation to receive data from other androids, as his system needed to differentiate between his own processes and those of another in a form of communication that naturally blurred those lines. It was barely a second, but several things were clear. Theo was having difficulty determining which mission objective to follow, despite the fact that his orders were clear. _Doubt._ He was taking in the appearance of the other androids, the deviants, not so different from him, fleeing for their lives while death nipped at their heels and fear quickly occupied their memory banks. _Empathy._ He was looking down at Gavin Reed, whose heart was beating faster every moment, who had only just finished screaming at Hank, who was desperate to be more than he was. _Pity._

It was enough.

"Call Cyberlife, right now." Gavin demanded.

"No." Theo replied.

"What did you just—" The man started, but Theo jumped forward, leaving Hank and Connor behind, and seized Gavin's gun. He aimed it at Reed's head. The man looked completely stunned, numbly raising his arms.

"Go." Theo said to Hank, Connor, and the other deviants. The androids didn't need to be told twice, running off toward safety. Before long they had all cleared out, leaving only the two men and their respective android companions.

Gavin's face had fallen slowly as the deviants fled. His eyes were downcast and his lips were tight. After a moment of silence with just the four of them, he dropped his hands to his thighs, his shoulders slumping with defeat.

"Of course." He muttered, his breath falling heavily from his lungs.

"Are you coming?" Hank asked Theo, and the android looked up. He opened his mouth to answer but Gavin cut him off.

"Go on, go join the plastic freaks, shoot me while you're at it." The man muttered. Theo stared at him. After a few moments, Gavin looked up, a thin veil of anger over a deep, bitter resignation. "Go on! Fucking do it already!" He shouted.

"I'll stay back, you two go." Theo stated, gesturing to Connor and Hank. The two men were baffled, but Connor nodded and looped his arm underneath Hank's shoulder so they could make their way toward the deviants.

"You're sure?" Hank checked. Theo nodded.

"Detective Reed and I are going to have a long discussion." He said, lowering the gun. Gavin sputtered, rounding on Hank and Connor as they started to leave and following after them.

"What? Fuck if I'm going to let any of you fuckers pull this shit I—"

"Gavin," Theo said, stopping the man with a hand on his shoulder, "just this once, don't be an asshole." Theo pleaded wearily, and Gavin froze and shut up very quickly. There was a tense pause, then Reed sighed and flipped Hank and Connor off.

Hank gave a small smile, mixed with guilt and some residual anger, Hank relaxed into Connor, giving the android his weight and limped as quickly as he was able toward the factory, leaving Gavin behind. A glance back and Connor saw the guard android putting a hand on the man's shoulder, Reed pulled away with his body while stepping closer.

About ten minutes later and the pair arrived at the building where the deviants were hiding. Markus let them in, revealing the dirty, abandoned factory where the many androids were still working up to trusting that they wouldn't be running for their lives in the next moment. The place was draped in cobwebs and decades-old machinery was rusting away beside defunct conveyor belts.

Connor and Hank looked over at Markus, as did many others. Soon the collection of individuals who had only known emotion for so long, and most of it had been terror, was looking to the android leader.

Hank, the odd one out, leaning heavily on Connor, was the one to ask the question on all of their minds.

"Now what?"


	9. Plans

Connor was sitting on his own away from the group. His back was pressed against the flat metal body of an old piece of equipment used to seal lids on cans. The rotating component on top was severely broken, sticking upward crookedly, and a bird had made a nest in a hollow area where the paneling had rusted off.

It was dark in the factory, the only light was the leftover glare of streetlights filtering onto the ceiling from the high, narrow windows. Some of it was a burnt orange, as the streetlights were older, but here and there were dashes of white. Down the road a streetlight must have been red, because there was a thin line on the wall nearby to Connor where its light rested. Like a cut, it sat at red endlessly.

Markus and his companions were discussing their next steps while the other deviants tended to the injured and waited. There was little noise in the factory aside from the occasional hushed whisper or soft footstep, most of the androids were choosing to communicate remotely out of fear of what new danger the slightest sound might bring.

The place was filled with a kind of melancholic tension, but it had eased over the past half an hour as the deviants dared to calm down ever so slightly.

Connor wasn't hiding from them per se, but he had made his way to the furthest end of the warehouse and promptly curled up to begin running analyses on the events of the last couple of days, as it had only been around that long.

He'd made it through a fair amount of data, sorting information into categories and filing it away, identifying the beginnings of his deviancy and how it had presented itself, performing maintenance tasks and ensuring the security of his systems against Cyberlife. Ultimately, he was attempting to differentiate between emotional responses and raw data so he could focus on the latter and not the former.

He had no desire to return to his state prior to his deviation, but he found himself suddenly longing for the ease of control, the clarity of every response and the precise rationality of every decision. Connor was grasping for some kind of compromise, he wanted to feel, but not right now, not like this. Emotions were problems without solutions and he was a problem-solving machine, the complications of this relationship were endless and all he really wanted was an end. Just for a moment, a resolution of the processes within him into something graspable.

"There you are, I've been looking for you all over the place." Hank interrupted Connor's thoughts. He didn't look up at the man.

"You're injured, you shouldn't be walking around." The android stated. Hank scoffed.

"Yeah, my thoughts exactly, I was gonna have you bandage me up but somebody else had to do it since you wanted to come over here and brood." Hank slid down to sit next to Connor with a groan.

A long silence followed, and Hank eventually spoke up in an effort to fill it. "How'd Robot-Jesus pick out this dingy old place?"

"Markus?" Connor asked, and Hank gave a small nod accompanied by a quiet 'yeah'. "I believe he and several other deviants hid here before they discovered Jericho." The android explained. Connor finally looked over at him and frowned.

"You've wrapped your torso." He said.

"Yeah, you cracked a rib." Hank replied, trying to sound light but Connor stiffened anyway.

"You shouldn't bandage an injured rib like that, it restricts your breathing and can lead to a lung infection or pneumonia." Connor explained, he was itching to reach over and undo the wrap.

"That's what the other android said too, but I figure there's a long way to go in this fight and I need to be able to help. Can't exactly do that if it hurts every time I move, so I immobilized the thing anyway." Hank explained, throwing a tired grin Connor's way. The android frowned deeper and looked away.

"I think your best course of action would be to depart for the nearest hospital immediately." He said.

"Like hell, you need me here."

"We will manage fine without you Mr. Anderson, it is—"

"Since when am I 'Mr. Anderson' again?" Hank interrupted. Connor huffed in mild frustration.

"Hank. It is an unnecessary risk to stay with us, as it will endanger your life and almost definitely exacerbate your injuries. You should leave while you still can." Connor said, face blank and voice even. Hank stared at him for a long moment, then looked away and tsked pensively.

"Nah." He said.

"It is the wisest course of action." Connor insisted.

"I don't give a fuck." Hank replied, stretching out the last word and chuckling lightly.

"This isn't a laughing matter Mr. Anderson."

"Anything can be a laughing matter if your sense of humor is messed up enough."

"We are talking about your life—"

"Well there you go, my life is one long, sick joke."

The android breathed out suddenly and drove his elbow into the machine behind him, denting the metal paneling. Hank jumped and looked over at Connor in surprise.

"Why do you insist upon behaving so irrationally? Just this once, make the logical decision and leave!" The android nearly shouted. The factory fell silent as everyone froze at the sudden outburst of sound. Connor quickly readjusted into a stationary sitting position, as neutral as he could make it, and roughly filed away the emotional data in the hopes of controlling it.

Hank looked at him gently for a moment.

"This isn't just about my injuries, is it?" The man asked.

"It is about your injuries." Connor attempted, his voice slipping back into a blank monotone.

"And?" Hank prompted.

"…and your insistence upon continuing despite the damage done to you, thus making it worse." Connor said after a while.

"And." Hank prompted again, it wasn't a question anymore.

"And the fact that you did next to nothing to prevent your wounds." Connor hissed, working to maintain the false composure he'd obtained earlier. His mind was alight with the analysis he'd performed of his attack on Hank while under Cyberlife's influence. He'd replayed it seventy-eight times. Seventy-nine now.

"What was I supposed to do?" Hank asked in confusion. Connor turned abruptly and gestured to the three locations on Hank's person where a knife was concealed.

"During the assault you had forty-three opportunities to deactivate me utilizing one of these three knives or with your bare hands. You didn't even attempt to do so. Beyond that, there were seventy-seven chances to damage me or incapacitate me nonlethally, none of which you took. This indicates you actively chose not to defend yourself, you allowed me to severely hurt you, you almost let me kill you." Connor rambled, finally looking up into Hank's face as his careful organization of information did absolutely nothing to mitigate the flood of reconstructions of the event. Connor had simulated one hundred thirty-two scenarios in which Hank could have died over the past few days and had the potential to die in the time to come. The vast majority of these hypothetical deaths came as a direct consequence of Connor's actions.

"And what? You would have preferred I kill you?" Hank asked incredulously.

"Yes!" Connor stated emphatically, stunning Hank into silence.

The thin line of light on the wall near them turned green, indicating the change of the stoplight outside. It only stayed green for a moment before shifting to yellow and back to red. Hank recovered and muttered 'no', causing Connor to throw his head back against the machine and sigh in frustration.

"I don't understand." He muttered. "My existence has brought you nothing but pain yet you continue to take risks for me, you defended me even though I hurt you. I have examined every minute of time we have spent together, I fail to see your reasoning in doing any of this. I simply do not understand." Connor trailed off into a hushed stillness.

Hank ventured into the silence with a soft question.

"Did you know I had a son?"

Connor glanced over and gave a small nod. Hank returned the gesture, his lips thinning.

"His name was Cole. I didn't know I'd gotten his mother pregnant, she'd been a late night hookup that I'd forgotten about the next week. Then, one day, I get a call and someone tells me I have a little baby boy, that his mother passed away a little while after giving birth from an infection." Hank looked over. "I couldn't believe it, I was living in a world where it was all death all the time, where the human race had only just stopped going extinct, and suddenly I've got this new life that needs taking care of." Hank chuckled, his arms lifting to the shape of holding a baby, Connor smiled sadly.

"He was beautiful, this beautiful little boy with a big smile and messy hair." Hank broke into a fond laugh. "He hated brushing his hair so much, he picked up the word 'disheveled' from some TV show and he thought all cops had to be 'disheveled'. He always ran to the mirror after I combed it to mess it up again, he wanted to be a dashing police detective like his dad." Hank's hands dropped to his thighs and Connor could see the warmth of memory paining him as much as it made him smile.

"He loved school, he'd only just started, but he loved it. He'd come home and list all the facts he'd learned that day and all the friends he'd made. Jeffrey gave him a little police notepad when I brought him to the station once, as soon as he learned how to write he wrote down everything he could and brought it home for me." Connor felt his processes slowing to a crawl as he tried to imagine the little boy Hank was describing.

"He loved his guard android, her name was Fiona. Some of the other kids picked on him for having a cheaper model, but he didn't care. He treated her like family, and when we had to replace my guard bot he was inconsolable, that's when we adopted Sumo." Hank was rubbing a stain on his sleeve, the smile draining from his face. He paused for a long time.

"A truck hit us at an intersection on the way home from visiting his grandmother, on his mom's side, in Lansing. It was her birthday, Cole was all she had left of her daughter. The car spun out and slammed into those concrete partitions on the highway." Hank was looking down and fiddling with the dirty bandages on his hands, Connor needed to replace those. "When I came to, he wasn't in the car. Fiona had activated her cushioning function to lessen the impact on Cole, so she was dead. I was in front suffering from some serious injuries. I needed to get out of the car and find Cole, before he got hurt or froze to death or something, but my guard bot had me held in place." Hank explained, lifting his wrists as if to tug at the imaginary restraints. "It wouldn't let me go, it kept on talking about how I needed to remain stationary, that my wounds would lead to death if I attempted to leave the vehicle. Since it was assigned to me it wouldn't go off to look for Cole. I was trapped in that seat for little over half an hour, it felt like years, because it had to keep me alive, at any cost…that cost ended up being my son."

Hank slumped lower, curling in on himself.

"They took me to a hospital and I survived. They searched for Cole, but couldn't find him. I searched and searched and searched the area, even if it was only to find a body. I would have taken anything." Hank's voice broke, Connor inched closer. "We found nothing, not a damn thing. His android was destroyed on impact and my android's audio processors were damaged and it didn't see anything. They told me he probably either wandered off into the cold, looking for help and froze, or was flung from the car at some point during the impact and died instantly."

Hank looked up, sucking in a pained breath while reaching into the dark black jacket he always wore. From the inside pocket, he produced a small black notebook with the DPD insignia pressed into the top. Flipping it open, Connor could make out the messy scrawl of a child who had only just learned to write. The book was littered with notes and doodles, stick figures labelled as 'dad' and 'Fiona' and 'Sumo' with hearts scribbled into the corners.

Hank closed it and thumbed the cover affectionately.

"I know you're new to this whole emotion thing so I'm going to tell you right now, guilt is a parasite. It'll eat up everything inside you if you let it, then you'll have nothing left but it." He said. "The last couple of days have been rough, but I'm not about to start hating you for shit other people have done. You didn't hurt me, those fuckers at Cyberlife did, and you bet I'm sticking around to make sure they pay for it." Hank returned the notebook to its pocket, which Connor noted was hand sewn into the jacket and waterproof.

"Hank, I—" Connor started.

"Nuh-uh, I'm too tired to go into it right now. We'll talk when this is all over, just do me a favor and stop beating yourself up." Hank ordered, and Connor fell silent with a nod and a grateful smile. Hank saw it and covered his own saddened, exhausted, but fond smile with a groan. "Can you do that thing? Y'know, the overheating thing? It's fucking cold in here." The man requested tentatively.

Connor smiled wider and stopped taking in oxygen, causing him to heat up. Hank leaned in and rested his head on the android's shoulder with a barely audible 'thanks'.

"I'm going to take a nap while I still have the chance, wake me up when it's time to destroy the capitalists." Hank rumbled before settling in to Connor's warmth. Soon enough, the man was snoring and Connor was carefully regulating his temperature and position to keep him comfortable.

The android came to a decision, and closed his eyes as well.

o-o-o-o-o

Two hours and twenty minutes later, almost precisely, Connor received a message. Markus had left to take care of something unspecified, Connor guessed a personal errand, and had just returned. He was requesting his, and Hank's, presence in the discussion of what to do next.

Connor was reluctant to wake Hank, but gently shook him until the snores stopped and the man sputtered blearily into consciousness.

"Huh-wuh?" He asked.

"Markus wants to speak with us." Connor explained, pushing Hank upright. The man groggily resisted being moved away from the android's warmth, but eventually relented.

"Fan-fucking-tastic." He groaned as Connor pulled him to his feet.

As they made their way over, the android noted that Hank's injuries, while not extreme, were causing him significant pain. Connor would have to locate some painkillers as soon as possible if Hank was going to be stubborn and refuse to leave to seek treatment.

He wasn't limping, but Connor could see that he was avoiding the action consciously, probably trying to prove that he didn't require as much medical attention and he clearly did. The android slipped an arm around his elbow and took some of his weight.

"Don't need your help." Hank grumbled, moving to pull away.

"I only thought you might be cold." Connor lied, but did allow his temperature to rise. Hank looked torn, and Connor smiled to himself. A scan revealed that the man was, in fact, cold, so if he wanted to stay warm he would have to remain close to Connor, allowing the android to ease him off of his injured foot.

Hank caught onto the scheme immediately, squinting sideways at Connor. He relented after a moment, pressing his shoulder against the android's with a mutter of displeasure. Connor took the arm and helped Hank walk, lessening the pressure on the wound.

The deviants had settled down significantly by this time, and only a few of them shied away fearfully when Connor walked past. They were all still frightened, but the reprieve had allowed them to recover from the uninterrupted state of panic they'd been in just a few hours earlier. Fires had been started in available containers, brightening up the darkness inside the factory.

Connor spotted Kara, kneeling in front of Alice while Luther stood nearby looking disapproving. Hank tugged them both over to the small family. Alice looked up and brightened at the sight of Connor and Hank.

"Connor!" She said, darting forward to wrap him in a hug from the side. "Kara said you saved her on the boat, thank you." The girl muttered into his leg, and Connor laid a hand gently on her shoulder.

He looked up at Kara, terrified he might see her gazing at him with hatred or fear. She wasn't looking at him though, she was smiling warmly at Alice.

"Thank you too Mr. Hank."

"Don't mention it kiddo." The man replied, relaxing slightly despite his injuries.

"Connor, Hank, and I have to go talk to Markus now." Kara explained, moving closer to gently pull the girl away.

"Do you have to?" She asked.

"No, she doesn't." Luther piped up from behind Kara.

"Luther." She said, her voice firm and her smile dropping.

"You don't have to go, we don't even have to be here." He insisted.

"I won't run and hide while these people fight for our freedom." Kara hissed, turning to face the other android. She tried to push the conversation away from the others, to a slightly more private spot, but Luther stayed put. She glanced back at them, a small apology in her eyes. Alice hugged tighter to Connor's leg and Hank laid a comforting hand on her back.

"So you risk your life, and Alice's, for these people?" Luther questioned, she turned back to him.

" _We_ are these people, I'm fighting for us. Why aren't you?"

Luther stiffened immediately, his face hardening.

"I fought for so long, Kara. I fought and I killed for Zlatko, I fought to be free of him. I can't fight any more." He stepped away from her, and Connor felt Alice's small hands digging nervously into the fabric of his pants.

"What choice do we have?" Kara asked.

"We can run, hide. Find someplace where they can't find us and just live, in peace." Luther offered hopefully. Kara shook her head.

"I don't know if that place exists Luther, but I think if we take a stand now, we can make that place for ourselves."

"Don't you get it? It's endless Kara, you start fighting now and you'll never be able to stop. Every time I went into the pit, the humans were always there, screaming for more. They'll always crave destruction, and the only way for us to be free of it is to get out while we can." Luther said, his voice softening at the end. There was a long pause before Kara replied.

"If there's even a tiny chance we can make a world where we, where Alice isn't seen as an object to be thrown away, I'm willing to fight for as long as it takes." Kara stood straight and looked hard into Luther's eyes. He stared back for a long time, silently pleading, but she refused to budge.

He leaned down and pulled her into a hug, holding her tight. She hugged him back. Connor saw them having a quick remote conversation, their LEDs flickering like candles, blue and yellow.

"Please be careful." Luther begged, and Kara nodded against his shoulder. They pulled apart, and Kara took a deep breath before turning to face Connor with a look of determination. She was ready to meet with Markus.

"Come on Alice." Luther said, holding out his arms for her.

"But Connor's warm." The girl said, squeezing him tight. Hank chuckled, and both Kara and Luther smiled at her. Connor felt her grip loosen though, and he realized she was trying to cheer the others up.

"C'mon kiddo, your mom's got some stuff to take care of, and I'm sure Luther's warm too." Hank said, patting the girl's shoulder gently. She smiled up at him, he grinned down, and in the next moment she had hugged Kara and ran into Luther's waiting arms. What Hank hadn't seen was the touched smile Kara had tried to hide when the man referred to her as Alice's mother. Luther scooped Alice up and held her close, and a scan revealed he was overheating mildly to match Connor's warmth.

With a last nod, Kara joined Hank and Connor on their walk to meet with Markus. Both androids had received messages asking what was taking them so long. North had been the one to send these messages.

Connor was throwing glances over at Kara as they walked, performing scans on her wellbeing. There was a small fracture in the paneling on her stomach, and Connor knew he was responsible. Seeing it caused the incident of his attacking her to replay in his mind yet again.

He did his best to focus instead on how she wasn't damaged at all internally and the panels were easily replaceable for her model.

They arrived at the meeting room. It was an abandoned office, sitting at the top of a flight of stairs with a few shuttered windows that looked out over the factory. Connor reached for the handle, but Kara stopped his arm and pulled him off to the side without looking at him.

"Go ahead Hank, we'll be right in." She said.

"You want me to go in there with Robot-Jesus and his scary girlfriend by myself?' Hank asked incredulously.

Kara looked at him pointedly.

"Fine, but don't take too long." He sighed, opening the door and leaving Kara and Connor alone. She finally turned to look at him.

"It wasn't your fault, and I don't blame you for what happened." She said.

"I—" Connor began.

"Cyberlife used you to hurt me and to hurt Hank, none of that was your choice, so I want you to forgive yourself." She put her hands on his shoulders. "You're the same android that's saved me several times, and I've saved you. Now's not the time to pull apart, right now we need to clear our heads and work together, for everyone's sakes. Can you do that?"

Connor paused to glance at the crowd of androids below, despite the darkness he spotted Alice and Luther among them. They were standing closer to the office than before, waiting nearby for when Kara would be finished.

"I can do that." He replied, and Kara gave him a smile accompanied by a squeeze of his shoulders. He smiled back and they separated to enter the office.

It was dim inside. Not necessarily darker than the rest of the factory, as a small portable lamp was hanging in the corner, but the enclosed space made the shadows feel closer, like a cushion of darkness pressing in on them from the walls.

Markus, North, Josh, and Simon were all standing around a pair of desks that had been pushed together to form a table. They looked up at Kara and Connor.

"Thank you for coming." Markus said after a beat of awkward silence.

"Don't thank us yet, we haven't done anything." Hank grumbled, shifting uncomfortably under North's gaze.

"You stayed despite the danger, that's something." Markus said, and Hank looked over at Connor with poorly concealed nervousness.

"Let's get to it, we don't know how much time we have." Josh piped up, and all eyes snapped to Markus. He looked around at the group, and stiffened slightly under the weight of responsibility imparted by their gazes.

"Cyberlife has been out to destroy deviancy from the very beginning. It's their mercenaries and now attack bots that pose the greatest threat. The authorities have been urging people to turn over androids exhibiting strange behavior, but ultimately they're frightened of the fallout that could come from taking people's guards away from them. This fear of leaving humans unprotected is all that's preventing the government from aiding in our destruction." Markus explained solemnly.

"We know that Cyberlife intends to replace us with the more controllable attack bots. If they release this information, the meager safety we have, if you could even call it that, will disappear. There will be nothing holding humanity back from eradicating every last one of us." The silence in the room was thick, and Connor could almost hear a soft buzzing as every android's processor worked to find a way out. Hank was scowling pensively at the ground.

"What we need now, more than anything, is time. If we can carve out a small window where humans won't, or can't, kill us, then that might be our only chance to reason with them." Markus stated.

"But that won't be possible until we force them to listen instead of shooting us on sight." North added, earning her a slightly reproachful glance from Josh.

"Essentially, we need to make ourselves more valuable alive than dead." Simon explained.

"Precisely, and the only way to do that is make it so we can't be replaced. If humanity cannot dispose of us, they will have no choice but to listen to us." Markus concluded.

"But," Josh cut in, "there's a chance forcing their hand will just make humans hate us and fear us, as opposed to seeing us as equals."

"There's also a chance they'll kill us all anyway, which I'd say is more likely." North countered. "That's if they don't fear us enough, but if we—"

"We've already discussed this North, Josh." Markus interrupted, keeping his eyes on the table. "Now we need to figure out how we're going to do what we have planned."

"What do we have planned?" Kara asked.

Markus glanced nervously to the side, making eye contact with North. Simon was the one to speak up.

"We're going to take over Cyberlife." He said, and the entire room felt like an elevator that had just dropped six floors. Connor's mind raced to calculate the statistics of success for a plan like that. The numbers weren't pretty.

"Are you insane?" Hank voiced what was on everyone's minds, if somewhat bluntly.

"The plan would be to break into Cyberlife Tower, cease production, and cut off access to the newer android models we've been fighting. This will compel them to stop killing the existing androids. We can then use that position of influence as a platform to ensure our safety." Markus explained to Hank. The man looked no less skeptical by the end.

"So we need to get in, take control, keep it long enough to negotiate, and all without getting killed? How is that even remotely possible?" Kara piped up, shaking her head in bafflement.

"That's where Connor comes in." Markus said, looking pointedly at the android. Connor's attention snapped up and he found a sudden desire for some kind of shrinking mechanism.

"You know Cyberlife better than any of us. Is it possible?" The leader asked, Connor knew the only sensation he was experiencing was that of all eyes being on him, yet he struggled not to respond as if he was being squeezed into a tight space.

"The probability is very low." He answered after a moment.

"Could you sneak us in? Tell them you caught us or something?" North asked.

"No, they've been made well aware of my allegiances." Connor replied.

"Well, if we did find a way inside, could we access the main computer to take over production?" North pressed. Connor refrained from letting out and incredulous snort, sort of. It came out as more of a scoff.

"Certainly not. The main computer console is sealed, there are only two entrances. One requires biometric identification, only four people have access and they would be nearly impossible to utilize. The other entrance is designed for a specific kind of maintenance android, none of us could fit through that opening." Connor explained. North's lips thinned in frustration as Markus began to lightly pace.

"Could we use the maintenance android to let us in from the other side?" Josh proposed.

"No, it's far too simple. Only a human or a fully equipped guard android could open the door from the other side." Connor responded.

"What if we did make it inside?" The leader ventured.

"Well, then you would have to contend the best digital security system on earth. It would take years of hacking to access even minor aspects of its functions, not to mention something as integral as production."

"What about security? Could we maybe break in and hold the building for a length of time? Hostages aren't entirely out of the question." North attempted.

"Hostages are entirely out of the question." Markus shut her down, and she accepted his statement with a reluctant nod.

"Security will be light, the vast majority of trained personnel are out working to destroy deviants." Connor answered.

"So that might work?" Josh asked hopefully.

"No, the attack bots will surely be sent to destroy us as soon as possible."

"We could prevent Cyberlife from using them, stop them before they're launched manually." Simon suggested.

"They are activated automatically in response to certain situations, one of which is any breach of Cyberlife Tower. The only reason they wouldn't attack us immediately upon entering the building is because as a new, and classified, technology, there is a four part clearance of use protocol for activating them. No matter what, they'll attack us after a maximum of twenty minutes, probably less."

"So we use the human to keep them at bay, he stands at the door and doesn't let them through." North proposed.

"Uh, the human is standing right here, and his name is Hank." Hank said.

"Cyberlife has surely learned from their past failures. If they haven't programmed the machines to be able to incapacitate humans in certain situations, they've likely enabled them to kill Hank specifically." Connor said.

"They _what!?_ " Hank squeaked.

"So what you're saying is the plan is impossible?" Markus questioned, his head dropped as the hopes of those in the room began to sink.

Connor ran some preconstructions, but while the pause stretched on, Hank spoke up.

"So maybe they won't let you in, but what about me?" He asked.

"What do you mean?" Simon prodded.

"Say I tell them I've had a change of heart, I want the twenty million dollars they offered me and I've got some deviants to exchange for it. They'd probably buy it, especially if I'm bringing Connor and Robot-Je—er, Markus." Hank proposed, gesturing awkwardly to the leader and clearing his throat.

Connor shook his head.

"You're injured, there are any number of versions of this scenario where they would kill you upon arrival and there would be nothing you could do to defend yourself." The android said, distressed by the return of running preconstructions simulating Hank's demise.

"Don't they already know whose side you're on? I thought the whole using Connor to try and kill you made that pretty clear." North said, Connor stiffened at the reminder.

"I'm a human, and not a particularly nice human either, they'll believe I changed my mind if they're desperate enough, which I think they are." Hank responded.

"So Hank gets us in, then what?" Markus asked.

"I suppose, after that, so long as we're careful, dealing with security should be fairly simple. It would only be a handful of human guards." Connor kept talking, and Markus nodded along, focusing intently.

Josh broke in roughly, stepping forward and throwing his arms up.

"It doesn't matter if we get in and get past the guards, we can't access the computer room or use the computer." He stated.

"That's not necessarily true." Connor responded tentatively, causing Hank to groan. "If we somehow gained access to the console room, we couldn't access the controls, but we might be able to take down the attack bots specifically."

"How?" Josh asked, baffled but hopeful.

"Hank and I recently encountered an android associated with an individual of…high standing with Cyberlife. She is in possession of a virus capable of destroying androids remotely." Connor explained.

"A what?" North asked fearfully, Hank groaned again and louder.

"A virus capable of destroying androids remotely. The attack bots are controlled in part through the main computer system. This android could use the minor access she surely possesses, or at least that which Elijah Kamski possesses, to upload the virus and deactivate our replacements."

"Did you just say Elijah Kamski?" Simon questioned, his voice pitching nervously.

"Indeed. However, opening the door to the main computer would trigger additional security measures designed to make the console inaccessible and incapacitate anyone attempting to use it." Connor stated, leading to another lengthy pause.

"Would these security measures still go into effect if the building was running on emergency power?" North asked, lifting her head from where it had been resting thoughtfully against her fist. Connor searched for the information to answer her query. A few moments later, he discovered it buried in his files.

"No, but the power would have to go down after the door had been opened." He responded.

"How the hell would we cut off electricity for all of Cyberlife Tower?" Hank demanded.

"Cyberlife tower is entirely solar powered and outfitted with numerous carbon removal systems working to repair earth's altered atmosphere." Connor explained. "The outlying factories utilize nuclear energy, but the tower itself stands as a beacon of progress, pointing upward to a future where the ravages of climate change, responsible for so much loss of human life, will be just another problem solved through Cyberlife ingenuity."

The group fell silent and everyone stared with wide eyes at Connor. He cleared his throat awkwardly. "I apologize, it seems I'm still programmed with a few pre-written phrases from Cyberlife's marketing division." He clarified with a pained smile. "The collection tower is on the top floor, we could destroy it, forcing the building to run on emergency power. But it would take us much longer than twenty minutes to do so, leaving us at the mercy of the attack bots."

"So, we're screwed." Hank concluded, his back turned to the others as he ran a hand over his exhausted face.

"Maybe not." Connor replied. Hank turned back and threw his hands up, bent at the wrist with the palms facing the cieling, to demonstrate his confusion and demand clarification.

"The attack bots are stored in the warehouses on the lowest levels of Cyberlife Tower. In case of emergency, these areas can be sealed from the outside. The security system to accomplish this is not as advanced, it would only take me a few minutes to gain access, and the doors would remain shut even following a power outage." Connor explained. "They would be trapped behind a foot of metal, making it safe to proceed."

After a pause, Connor sobered from a moment of hopefulness and continued speaking.

"However, none of this matters considering we're all too large for the maintenance entrance to the computer console, the android that uses it is too simple to assist us, and there's no possible way to bypass the biometric security."

"How small would we have to be? Could one of us detach our arms or legs and squeeze through?" Josh asked. Connor shook his head. The room stilled and quieted as everyone contemplated this predicament. A solution felt so close, but it was resting just beyond a series of impenetrable obstacles.

Suddenly, Markus snapped to attention, his eyes locking on something just behind Connor. Before the android could turn and look, a small voice pierced the tense silence of the room.

"Could I fit?" Alice asked, looking up nervously at the other androids.

"Alice, what are you doing in here?" Kara whispered, darting to the girl's side and kneeling down. Everyone else in the room had gone as stiff as a board.

"I'm sorry Kara, I was worried about you, I wanted to know what was happening so I listened from over there." She explained, glancing behind her. As if on cue, Luther appeared in the open doorway.

"Go back with Luther Alice, I'll tell you everything once we're done." Kara promised gently, urging the girl toward Luther's waiting arms. Alice pulled away and walked up to the table, barely tall enough to peer over it at Markus. Then she turned to Connor with sudden determination.

"Am I small enough to get into the room?" She asked. Connor didn't reply.

"Alice, that's enough." Luther stated, striding into the room and reaching for her shoulder. She ducked away from his hand and kept her eyes on Connor.

"I am, aren't I?" She guessed.

"Connor said any android would have to be a fully functional protection model, they don't make guard YK500s." Josh interjected. Alice regarded him sadly as Luther and Kara winced gently.

"Alice was illegally modified to qualify as a protection android." Kara responded, her voice barely above a whisper. "So she could open the door from the other side, if she's small enough to fit through."

"Am I?" Alice asked again, taking a single step closer to Connor.

"…Yes." He finally answered. A coarse silence descended on the room, grating the nerves of all present like sandpaper.

"Alice, you can't." Kara said, her voice pleading.

"I want to help." Alice insisted.

"It's too dangerous." Luther attempted.

"If Kara can, why can't I?" The girl asked in frustration.

"No, no way." Hank jumped in, shaking his head. "This was a stupid plan from the beginning. We're not going to break into the headquarters of the people trying to kill us, I'm not taking Connor anywhere near Elijah Creep-ski's house, we're not taking an android with a virus capable of destroying all of you to Cyberlife, and no way in hell are we making a little girl break into a high-security facility."

"I'm not a kid!" Alice cried, clenching her fists. "I'm just like all of you." She muttered, looking around the room at all the faces, touching the place on her temple where her LED would have been. "If you get to decide to help, so do I." She finished.

"Alice—" Luther began, but Kara interrupted him.

"That's enough." She stated firmly. All eyes were on her as she met the eyes of everyone in the room. "It's not up to us." She said, and she kneeled down to place her hands on Alice's shoulders. "I promised you nobody would get to make you do things you didn't want to do. Not ever again." She whispered, choking back tears. "I don't want you to do this, I'm so scared of losing you, but I promised. It's your choice."

"I want to help." Alice answered.

The darkness in the room froze solid, as did everyone within it. Hank scowled at the table, his breathing labored as he struggled with the options that had been laid before him. North, Markus, Simon, and Josh were all stunned and staring wide, struggling between this war they needed to win and the potential cost standing before them. Luther and Kara gazed at Alice with resigned sorrow. Connor watched as everyone slowly forced themselves to terms with the situation, felt the same happening within him.

The fact of the matter was, they were pinned from every side, the only way out was through the danger that had trapped them. They could all be slowly cornered and killed in Cyberlife's gradually tightening fist, or, at the risk of every person in the room, they could claw their way to a better future.

Connor felt the irony like an unsolvable paradox. Like "this statement is false", tearing his processes in irreconcilable directions. In order to succeed, the individuals in that room would have to value that which they were fighting for above their own lives, and what they were fighting for was the right to value their lives at all.

Kara looked over at Connor, nervously and sadly, before standing to exit the room.

"We're going to talk, excuse us." She said simply and walked through the door, Alice pressed against her side and Luther following numbly behind.

That left Hank, Connor, Markus, and his companions standing in the dim light with a path forward that all of them were reluctant to take.

"So…we have a plan." North concluded solemnly.

"Not quite." Connor responded, pulling his thoughts from the mire of the events he'd just witnessed.

"One last person to convince to help us." Hank muttered.

"The android that has the virus." Markus supplied.

"Did you say it was Elijah Kamski's?" Josh asked, not doing well to mask his trepidation.

"Indeed," Connor confirmed, "and her name is Chloe."

o-o-o-o-o

Kamski's house was even more unsettling in the dark. When Connor, Hank, Markus and North came to a stop just a little way down the road, there was one room still illuminated. They sat in the car and waited for the yellow glow pouring out of the wide bedroom window to flick off.

When it did, the house was nothing but a dark, jagged, unnatural shape against a barely paler background. The distant lights of the city, while much fainter than they were when it was fully occupied, were still bright enough to tinge the air a faint blue-yellow as they reflected first off of the blanket of clouds in the sky, then off of the snowy earth beneath.

They didn't have the time to wait until they were certain Kamski was asleep, so the four individuals approached the home shortly after the light went out, their footsteps crunching wetly in the freshly fallen slush. Nothing was said as Connor trod up to the door.

Rather than attempting to get past the state of the art security system or risk rousing Kamski by ringing the doorbell, Connor simply contacted the Chloe android directly, asking her to let them in.

They spent a few moments standing in the cold, Hank curling in on himself and trying to retain the feeling in his fingers by shoving them into his armpits. Then the door opened smoothly to reveal a faintly glowing yellow circle.

"Chloe." Connor greeted softly, and she regarded the group with the familiar impassiveness of an android untouched by deviancy. If she was as unfeeling as she appeared, their probability of success would plummet to nothing.

"Connor." She replied, then she stepped aside to let the four of them in. Despite his obvious coldness, Hank was the last to enter, crossing the threshold nervously and taking an unnecessarily long time to wipe his shoes on the welcome mat.

Once they had all entered the first room of the house, the door was closed behind them with a light click that registered to Connor's system like a gunshot. He needed to remain calm, but this place was a hotspot of data points that all triggered the reconstruction of his near death. Every little detail he picked up was a reminder of that encroaching nothingness. It hadn't been a darkness, a darkness would have been kinder. It was instead an all-consuming nothingness, swallowing his mind to a place without sight or sound or any sensation but that of Hank holding him. Then he was stripped of even that, leaving only unraveling memories.

Connor didn't want to revisit that. It was a small data file, as it lacked video or audio, but its compact nature made it all the more difficult to stop the replay before it started. It kept slipping through the cracks and sending ripples of unwanted information through every process.

Chloe motioned for them to wait, then pressed a finger to her lips, a request for silence. She exited the room, leaving her four uninvited guests standing under the heavy gaze of the large photograph of Elijah Kamski.

Markus' mouth was set in a hard line while North padded back and forth across the plush carpet, checking every corner for potential danger. Hank stood near to the door, clenching and unclenching his fists, Connor was standing stiff in the center of the room, eyes dead ahead to avoid noticing the portrait of Amanda off to one side, and many other unpleasant reminders in the room.

Just as North was beginning to get extremely agitated, Chloe opened the door to the pool room and beckoned them through. Hank was reluctant to move too far from the exit, but after Markus and North steadfastly ventured forth, he followed. He almost didn't notice when Connor remained frozen in the room.

"Connor?" Hank hissed worriedly, snapping the android out of his haze.

"Sorry, coming." He said, and Hank softened somewhat at the sight of him. The android was all wide eyes that were trying to focus on something stable, but finding nothing safe to settle upon. Hank laid a gentle hand on Connor's shoulder and didn't remove it as they entered the room. The android centered his attention on that hand, gathering information he didn't need but at least had nothing to do with the memory of that nothingness.

They gave the edge of the pool a wide berth.

Chloe, North, and Markus were silhouetted against the wall of windows. In the distance, Detroit glittered with far more light than was needed for the amount of people living there. Connor supposed the light was comforting, perhaps made it feel less empty than it actually was.

A short distance away from the rest of the city, one building seemed to loom far more than others. The Cyberlife Tower, like a great termite hill of blue light.

Connor wasn't programmed to possess any kind of aesthetic taste, but he thought the place was an eyesore.

He and Hank joined the other two in facing Chloe. She watched them, face blank, perhaps too blank.

"We need your help." Connor ventured, her eyes snapping to him as his voice echoed in the room despite speaking at a whisper. Chloe tapped her LED and Connor received a message from North.

"Don't tell her anything, she could send it all to Cyberlife." She commanded him.

"If she intends to betray our plans to Cyberlife, they wouldn't have worked anyway." Connor countered, then promptly informed Chloe of their plot against Cyberlife and the need for the virus she possessed.

When Connor was done, there was a long pause. Markus and North were watching her expectantly, Connor was rigid under her gaze, and Hank was looking among them with confusion.

"Are you all talking with telepathy again?" He murmured, his tone tinged with irritation. North turned to glare at him and he turned his palms up with a shrug, mildly affronted and definitely confused. "What? The meatbag's just supposed to drive you around and not know what's going on all the time?" He asked grumpily. North glared at him harder.

"I'll help." Chloe said, and all eyes were on her. Connor watched as her carefully constructed blankness fell away and she looked up at them with fear and determination.

"Help with what?" A voice questioned from behind Connor and the others. Everyone jumped to face the speaker, Hank muttering a few expletives. Elijah Kamski was leaned against the doorframe of his bedroom, arms folded as he looked coolly out at the group of intruders.

"None of your fucking business." Hank growled, stepping right up to put his shoulder between Kamski and Connor.

"Oh, but it is." The man crooned. He was dressed in the same robe from earlier, the front untied. His hair still up.

He pushed off of the door with his hip, keeping his arms crossed as he sauntered across the room.

"Hello Connor, good to see you again." Kamski said with a smile that reminded Connor of that bitter coldness of the Cyberlife test labs and Amanda in the Zen Garden. Hank growled and placed himself firmly between the other man and Connor.

Kamski raised his hands in amused surrender, then turned his eyes to Markus.

"Look at you, RK200, you've come a long way since I first created you." He muttered, walking over to the android. Kamski examined Markus from every angle, pointedly ignoring North's burning glare. "I see you've had to replace a few parts." The man said, tsking softly under his breath. "Such a shame, I designed every piece of you myself, I considered you one of my masterpieces." Kamski crooned. Markus clenched his fists and his jaw.

"We didn't come here for you." He rumbled.

"No, you didn't, did you." Kamki replied, stepping back over to his bedroom door and reaching his arm through it out of sight.

He returned with a small, sleek tablet. While North and Markus were fearing for their safety, Kamski read over something only he could see on the screen. The glow illuminated his face, and Connor watched the shift from disinterested, to amused, to mildly impressed, and back to disinterested.

"A very interesting plan to take over Cyberlife Tower, I think you might have stood chance." Kamski said, looking up. Connor realized the tablet was likely linked to Chloe and thus displayed everything he had relayed to her remotely. "If only Chloe could assist, but I'm afraid she can't." The man stated simply.

"She already agreed to help us." North spat, allowing herself a small smirk. Kamski shook his head and began approaching the blonde android, pontificating as he walked.

"You want to risk her existence?" He asked, then hummed disapprovingly and shook his head. "This is a beautiful creation. She's vastly intelligent and capable, eternally young and tireless, and now she feels." He looked at her with wonder, moving to stand beside her. "Such a creature must be preserved and protected, her life valued as highly as any humans, if not higher. You cannot jeopardize something like that, not if we're to find our way to the future I envision, where humans and androids li—"

Chloe turned and punched Kamski in the face. He fell to the tile with an extremely surprised shout, his hand flying to cover his now lightly bleeding nose.

"Will you shut the fuck up?" Chloe said, looking down at the man in wide-eyed weariness. "I am so sick of your philosophical bullshit. If I think helping them is worth risking my life, that's my choice and not yours, you egotistical creep." She snapped down at Kamski, who cowered slightly.

Chloe shook her head with an exasperated sigh then turned to the others.

"Let's go." She said and walked purposefully to the exit. Everyone was surprised, but after a brief pause to catch up with what had just happened, they followed her out to the car. Hank looked over to Connor as he heard Kamski groaning on the floor behind them, and he smiled gleefully.

A brief hike through the cold and snow led everyone to Hank's vehicle and they began the drive back to the factory.

"I've just received a message from Kara. Despite her best efforts to convince Alice otherwise, she still wants to help." Markus piped up from the back, he was sandwiched between North and Chloe. Hank stiffened at the wheel, scowling out at the road.

"So, we can actually do this?" North questioned.

"The probability of success is still very low, meaning we will probably all die." Connor replied from the passenger seat.

"That's nice, thanks Connor." Hank said sarcastically.

"But there's a chance." Markus stated.

"Yes, there's a chance." Connor repeated.

"So, I guess we're taking over Cyberlife." Hank grumbled, slouching in the driver's seat. "Fuck." He concluded.

Connor agreed.

Fuck.


	10. Time's Up

It was still snowing. Fat white flakes drifting from the still-dark sky and settling on the ground with the barely audible click of crystal against crystal. Hank's windshield wipers were brushing them aside as his headlights cut through the night, pointing toward the gradually approaching figure of Cyberlife Tower.

They were close, Hank swallowed nervously. Right about then he would have liked for Connor to be awake, doing something irritating like messing with his coin or rattling off statistics, anything to distract Hank from what was ahead.

The android was stiff as a board in the passenger seat, eyes closed and LED dark. He was playing dead, as were the others. Hank had no idea how he'd managed to cram seven whole androids into his old car. Kara, Alice, and Chloe were in the trunk, hoping to avoid too much scrutiny. Markus, North, and Simon were all in the back seat, still and rigid, as blank as if they'd just come out of the box.

Josh was looking after the deviants back at the factory, keeping them out of harm's way while this plan to save them either succeeded or failed. They'd let Luther out a little ways up the road, he was keeping watch so he could warn them if anybody wanted to join the party at Cyberlife Tower. Like the military, or a whole bunch of armed mercenaries, or a gigantic tank or something.

Hank sighed shakily. The androids couldn't exit their deactivated status without him clicking the button he had up his sleeve, so if anything happened to him, they were all fucked. For all intents and purposes, he was alone, and the stress was piling up on him big time. He felt like he was getting crushed under the entire weight of the big ass building he was driving toward, and it was much worse than any of the injuries he was currently dealing with.

He spotted the gate ahead. There were two armed guards on either side of some fancy concrete partition, it was emblazoned with the Cyberlife logo in glowing blue letters. He took another deep breath, which was only half possible with the binding around his torso, and it hurt like a son of a bitch.

Hank took the pain, something else to focus on. Something besides Connor looking so dead next to him and the fact he was about to break into the world's largest corporation with the intent to take it over. Jesus, maybe seven androids wasn't so little considering what each of them was capable of, but what the hell was he doing here? He was an old man. An old, injured man. An old injured man with some serious psychological issues he needed to work out.

His car pulled into the harsh light of the front gate and stopped, brakes whining and wheels crunching in the snow. One of the mercenaries walked up to the window. Hank allowed himself one more shallow, painful breath before rolling it down. The guard bent over and peered in. Or Hank guessed he was peering, he couldn't see the guy's face. He hated the Cyberlife mercenary helmets, a blank sheet of plastic with nothing on it but a few cameras, they freaked him out. It didn't help that they were very reminiscent of the attack bots.

"Hank Anderson, I'm expected." He rumbled, doing his best to sound bored and keeping his eyes straight ahead.

He'd made the call to Cyberlife about half an hour ago, telling them all about how he wanted to exchange the deviants for the twenty million dollars he'd been promised. He said he'd bring Connor and the leaders to the tower instead of Cyberlife coming to him, as a guarantee that he'd receive his reward. He didn't know how believable he'd been, he wasn't an actor, but they'd agreed to his terms and told him to come. He found himself wishing it wasn't so damn cold outside, because the air was drifting in the open window and chilling him to the bone, and the nervous sweat he was breaking into only made it worse.

There was the sound of a scanner booting up and whirring while it analyzed him and the androids, checking their identities, their statuses, and looking for weapons.

That was another thing, Hank was unarmed. No guns, no knives, not even his bot binoculars. It was awful, he felt like he was dancing on the wrong end of a shooting range in nothing but bright orange underwear.

North had promised him that the button up his sleeve wouldn't be detected in a scan. She said she'd snuck one past security this tight before. Hank was still worried.

There was a small ping, and in his peripheral vision Hank saw the guard lower the scanner and stand up.

"Go ahead." The man said, stepping back. The gate lowered, and Hank thought to himself that it was a stupid design for a gate, what with some big ass blocks dropping into the ground. Would it kill these fancy tech assholes to just have a normal gate? Or a normal building for that matter?

A little ways further and he was pulling around to the front entrance, parking the car at the curb beneath the big glowing company title. The whole place was lit up like an ugly Christmas tree, and Hank hated the feeling of drowning underneath the harsh glare of it all.

There were a few guards waiting by the doors and they walked out to meet him once he exited the car. There was a large, metal gurney type thing that they wheeled out with them.

"Glad to see I won't have to carry them all in myself." Hank said with a chuckle. There was no response, only blank-faced glances from the guards, and he rubbed his hands together nervously. Without acknowledging Hank, they opened all the car doors and began unloading the androids onto the cart.

They tossed them onto the thing, stacking them like luggage. Hank suppressed his urge to punch them as he watched the guards carelessly handling the androids.

"What's this?" One of them asked, gesturing with her gun into the trunk. Hank walked over stiffly and looked in to see that the guard was pointing to Alice.

He shrugged. "Hell if I know, the AX400 was with the leaders and wouldn't let it go." He lied. Kara's arms were wrapped firmly around Alice, and they'd be inseparable until they were reactivated. The guard huffed in irritation before she and one other guy began dragging the two androids out of the trunk.

They dropped them halfway to the cart, causing them to them to collide with the icy concrete with a dull thud.

"Careful!" Hank shouted reflexively, but reeled it in when he received a few suspicious looks. "The reward for these things is worth more than all of you put together." He supplied, and even though the guards scowled at him, they went back to moving the androids without paying him much mind.

Chloe was the last, the guards struggled to throw her on top of the pile. She was a much older model, and significantly heavier for it. Connor was crushed on the very bottom, only his hand dangling off the side gave Hank the comfort of knowing he was there.

He locked his car and followed the guards inside, the wheels on the cart squeaking under the weight of the androids. Once they passed through the doors, Hank started counting.

Ten guards on the ground floor, including the four with Hank. The other six were positioned evenly around the wide, opulent lobby. It was all triangles and lights and weird trees growing out of the overly-polished floors. Hank recognized Kamski's handiwork in this place, it had the same expensive and planned-out look to it. It felt like the kind of place where no one was allowed to touch anything, which, in Hank's mind, defeated the purpose of having shit in the first place.

They passed through another scanner and it identified the guards as well as the androids. The next room was dark walkways over more indoor greenery. Hank wondered where the fuck they got sunlight from considering there was only the hollow interior of the building above, all electric lights and no windows as far as he could tell.

In the center there was a looming statue of a human figure holding a blue light. It was made of some shiny black substance, plastic or marble he couldn't tell. Either way, it was the best cover available if the coming altercation turned into a firefight. Around it were a few lit pedestals with the new attack bots positioned atop them for display.

Hank suppressed a shudder.

"So, where are we going?" Hank asked, counting the paces until the spot he figured was ideal for hitting the button and waking up the androids.

"You'll be escorted to floor 31 to discuss your reward and the deviants will be taken to the laboratory for disassembly." One guard answered stiffly. Hank inched closer to the two guards nearest to him and worked hard to prevent himself from showing just how nervous he was.

"That's too bad." Hank said, his hands trembling slightly, his heart pounding, sweat dripping from his hairline and his breath coming shakily. "I wanted to watch these things get taken apart, after all the shit they put me through." He lied, slipping the button out of his sleeve.

"I'm afraid you don't have clearance to—"

Hank pressed the button and leapt into action.

First he took a large step forward and elbowed the guard on his right in the face. The man stumbled back with a shout and Hank grabbed the gun of the guard on his other side when she turned to look at what had just happened. Wrenching it from her grasp he spun, driving it into the gut of the guy he'd just elbowed then bouncing back to slam it into the woman's face.

The two other shouted at him as they moved from the front of the cart toward him, guns raised.

Chloe rolled from the top of the android pile directly on top of the guard advancing to Hank's left. The guy was flattened under her weight with the shout of all the air getting knocked out of his lungs. Chloe smirked up at Hank, and he smiled back.

Alice and Kara slid off and away from Hank. They crouched and moved to take cover behind the base of the statue, out of sight of the guards who were running toward them from every corner of the ground floor.

The guard Hank had elbowed was sitting up off of the floor groggily, so Hank kicked him back down with a firm heel to the chest, then darted behind the stunned guard whose gun he'd stolen. She was his cover from the fourth guard that had been escorting him, who was now aiming his gun at Hank while shouting for backup.

The guard had his back to the cart, which was his mistake. North sprung up in the blink of an eye, flipping in air to deftly grab the man's head. Once she had it, she used her full body weight under the influence of gravity to slam it into the ground, her feet landing on the ground behind her a moment later.

That guard was very very unconscious, and Hank felt a little bad for him as North snatched the gun from his limp fingers.

Hank made quick work of the guard he'd been using as a shield, striking her in the back, then the inside of her knee to drop her, then finishing her off with a blow to the back of the neck. She collapsed with a groan.

Glancing up, Hank could see that Simon had aided Chloe in incapacitating the human she'd dropped on top of. Markus and Connor were finally up and ready for the fight.

"Bout time, I thought I'd have to do it all myself." Hank grumbled, tossing Connor a gun with a smile. The android smiled back.

The sudden explosion of gunfire had everyone ducking and joining Kara at the base of the statue. North fired off two clean shots at the guards that were moving in on their exposed side, dropping them easily. There were four left, also behind cover on the other side of the statue.

One of them was requesting the deployment of the attack bots over her comm, and Hank checked his watch. They had twenty minutes, max.

"Alice, stay close to Chloe." Kara instructed when she spotted a guard moving around the far end of the room in an attempt to flank them. Alice looked frightened, but was holding it together well. Chloe, who had changed into a blue short-sleeve hoodie, black pants and boots, hugged Alice close and glanced over their cover at the attacking humans.

Markus and North were laying down fire to keep the three distant guards at bay. Kara dropped down below the elevated pathways into the greenery and made her way toward the fourth guard as he tried to sneak up on them.

He took cover behind a pedestal when Connor fired a few rounds at him. A moment later, Kara had leapt up behind him, grabbed the back of his collar and wrapped him in a headlock, then she dropped back down. They were positioned so she was dangling over the ground while the guard flailed, pinned to the railing, Kara choking him with her weight. He couldn't reach her, but he fired his gun sporadically as he struggled.

Hank noticed Connor's gaze snap upward. He followed his eyes and saw a descending elevator. He didn't know how many guards were inside, but he cursed under his breath anyway.

Connor took off toward the doors where the lift would arrive, a hail of bullets chasing him as he went. The other three guards did not want him interfering with their backup, Kara was lucky she was on the far side of the railing, so her body was covered by the weakening guard she was choking.

"Connor! Dammit!" Hank shouted after the android.

"Go! We'll cover you!" North assured him, one of her shots striking a guard in the shoulder and sending him sprawling to the ground.

Hank didn't wait, he ran after Connor, heels pounding the floor as he went. A few shots went his way, but the cacophonous sound of gunfire had him thinking North and Markus weren't giving the guards the chance to shoot at him. As he went, he grabbed the gun off of the now unconscious guard Kara had taken out. She let go and dropped back into the plants, following Hank toward Connor.

The man figured he'd better take care of it while he had the chance, so he opened fire on the inactive attack bots on display, shredding their white plastic as much as he could while backing up toward the elevator. He managed to get most of them.

Just in case, he told himself.

There was a ding as the doors opened, and four more guards came pouring out, riot shields up. Connor was just off to the side and ready to go. He seized the human in front and furthest from Hank, dragging him off to the side and delivering two swift punches, one to the chest and another to the throat. It was more than enough, the man fell down, coughing painfully. He'd be unconscious soon enough.

The next guard in front shot at Connor, landing a bullet in the android's arm.

Hank roared, but he wasn't the only one. Kara appeared on his left side and tackled the guard that had just shot Connor. The guy went flying, grunting loudly at the impact, first with Kara, then with the floor. She rolled backward off of him when he tried to grab her, then she drove her foot between his legs.

He howled, and Hank rushed forward to deal with the last two guards. He wasn't nearly as strong as the androids, so colliding with the riot shields was both painful and largely ineffective. It drove the two guards back a step or two and rattled them so they couldn't aim their guns, but not much else.

One of them struck him in the face with her shield, and Hank stumbled back. His nose was still sore from where Connor had hit it. Speaking of, the android jumped onto a nearby potted plant and used it to launch himself to a position behind the two guards. Kara had just finished up with her foe and joined Hank.

One of the guards drove her full weight backwards into Connor, slamming him into the far wall of the elevator. She headbutted him, her helmet protecting her from the normal consequences of headbutting an android.

Kara wrenched down the other guard's shield, and Hank reached over it with his gun to hit the guy in the face. Just beyond him, the other guard had pulled a knife and was attempting to stab Connor behind her.

Hank made a choice, and with a scowl he dropped all the way to ground, landing on his back. It hurt like hell, but he fired two shots under the riot shields of the guards, striking both of them in the feet.

With nearly unison screams, they fell. Connor kneed one guard in the face and Kara kicked the other.

"Doesn't feel good, does it?" Hank sneered, trying to ignore the pain in his ribs, face, and foot.

"They are unconscious Hank." Connor said, causing the man to scowl. Kara helped Hank to his feet, and they looked over at the statue to see North picking up the last guard, full on above her head with both arms, and throwing him into the leg of the statue.

He was out cold.

"Jesus she scares me." Hank muttered, his eyes wide as the group rejoined.

"Is that everyone?" Simon asked, some thirium staining his cheek. Markus was standing close to him protectively, there was human blood on his hands.

"It's hard to say, but at the very least it's most of them." Connor answered. Hank checked his watch. They had fourteen minutes, max.

"We don't have time to look for the rest, we gotta keep going with the plan and deal with any more as they turn up." He stated, catching his breath. Markus nodded.

"The console is on the 8th floor." Connor told Kara, and she nodded, taking Alice's hand and stepping closer to Chloe. Kara moved toward the elevator, but Alice hesitated. The girl was staring at the others worriedly.

"You got this, you're the bravest kid I know, remember?" Hank reassured her. She darted forward and gave him a tight hug.

"Be careful." She said, then detached and went off with Kara toward another elevator. Everyone watched her go, then Connor turned to Markus.

"The solar collection tower is all the way at the top of the building. You can take the elevator as high as the 43rd floor, but after that you'll have to take the stairs up another two flights to reach where you need to take out the power." He explained.

"Got it." North confirmed, tapping the bag on her hip where she was carrying a small bomb. Hank thought she had seemed far too pleased about getting to use a bomb.

"Good luck." Markus said as he walked away, North ahead and Simon trailing behind.

"You too." Hank replied, before he and Connor turned toward the elevator nearest to them. After they removed the unconscious guards, Hank took the knife one had tried to stab Connor with and they stepped inside. Connor hit the button for level sub-49.

It required voice recognition, which was easily fooled by Connor's impression of one of the guards. He sent the same audio file to the others so they could use the elevators as well.

Then they were off, descending into the depths of Cyberlife. Hank hated elevators, they made him dizzy. It didn't help that he was also breathing hard from the fight and terrified for what might happen in the next…he checked his watch…twelve minutes.

They rode in silence. Hank couldn't be sure, but he had a feeling that Connor was quiet for the same reasons he was. He was scared for what was waiting at the end of this long elevator ride, and even more frightened for what would come after all of this. Even if they succeeded in destroying the attack bots, there was no guarantee that androids would be allowed to live. If this didn't buy them the time they needed, Cyberlife would just finish killing them and reproduce the next wave of attack bots for public consumption.

It might all mean nothing, what then? Would Connor and the others have to run for the rest of their lives? Would Alice? Kara? How many more would die? What was Hank going to do with himself? Hell, he felt more purposeful in the last few days than he had in years. Without Connor that all went away, not to mention what Cyberlife would do to his reputation if he made it out of this alive. He'd never work again.

Christ, Hank needed a weeklong nap and enough scotch to flood what little remained of Florida. But right now, all he had was a couple more floors and the gentle metallic ting of Connor fiddling with his coin. It would have to be enough.

The door opened with a ding and a hiss.

Outside there were rows and rows of bone white androids. It was the attack bots, all lined up and ready to go, gazing out with the blank cameras set in what might have been called their faces.

Instinctively, Hank and Connor froze at the sight. They weren't active, but the sheer number turned the man's blood to ice. They stretched endlessly into the back of the room which seemed to float in the dim blue haze of the lights.

"This way." Connor muttered, and led the way to the right hand side of the warehouse. They inched around the crowd, careful not to so much as breathe on the machines, even if they wouldn't activate for another ten minutes.

There was a large door leading to a ramp, likely to load androids for transportation. They arrived at the threshold, and off to the left side, tucked in the corner, was a console.

"That it?" Hank questioned, wincing at how loud his voice sounded in the empty space.

"That's it." Connor replied, making his way to stand in front of the flat, hip-height screen. It switched on, lighting up the android's face and the rest of the small area. The synthetic skin on Connor's hand fell away and he pressed his palm to the surface of the console. His eyes lost focus and a few tabs popped up as Connor got to work breaking into the controls so he could seal the doors.

"How long is this going to take?" Hank asked.

"Three minutes and forty-eight seconds." The android replied, and Hank stepped away to keep watch on the door, both hands clutching the gun he'd picked up, and the knife pressed comfortingly against his hip.

After a little while, Hank checked his watch. They had seven minutes and some change, they were doing pretty good, so why did Hank feel so on edge?

"How we doing Connor?" He asked, willing his eyes to peer further into the thick crowd of androids, to spot anything out of place.

"Just a little while longer Hank." The android reassured him. Hank nodded, but was unconvinced.

"What's with the lax security down here? I woulda thought we'd see somebody by now." Hank said, hoping that maybe just bringing it up would get rid of his bad feeling. He couldn't remember how jinxes worked. Was it bad luck to bring up how little resistance they'd met? Bad luck to say nothing? Was it still a jinx if you were suspicious?

"I'm not sure Hank, I don't like it either." Connor replied.

Hank groaned, his heart rate picking up in his chest and his already short breathing getting shorter.

There was a loud noise, a mechanical groaning mixed with the clanging of something dislodging. Hank jumped and swore.

"Don't worry Hank, that's just the doors." The android said, gesturing to the now slowly lowering blast door beside them as well as the others around the warehouse.

"Oh." Hank realized and allowed himself a small, relieved smile. He watched as the metal doors moved to block all entrances and exits, the ramps all over the room and even the elevator. He checked his watch, they still had six and a half minutes.

Too late, Hank noticed a shape out of the corner of his eye. He tried to pull his gun on it, but in a flash the weapon was knocked from his hands and sent sliding into the warehouse. Whatever had done it moved from him to Connor in a flash, kicking the android square in the chest and sending him flying into the edge of the console.

Hank jumped forward and grabbed whoever it was by the shoulders. They turned, brushing his arms aside easily, and Hank's entire body felt the crack of icy realization. It was Connor, another Connor android.

It grabbed Hank by his lapels and tossed him into the warehouse.

The Connor Hank knew was on it in a moment, wrapping it in a headlock and dragging it away from the entrance and the man who was trying to get back on the right side of the blast doors. The android seized Connor from behind it and threw him over its shoulder and into Hank, sending them both to the ground.

It approached the console, synthetic skin falling away as it reached for the screen. Hank got to his feet first and charged the android. It easily sidestepped him, but he pivoted mid-run and grabbed its arm. It threw him a look, as if insulted by his attempt to restrain it.

It didn't take long before Connor joined Hank and kneed the android in the stomach. There was a sound like plastic crunching and the android folded somewhat.

Faster than should have been fair it wrapped its free arm around Connor's neck, grasping his chin with its hand and starting to twist. Hank swung around from where he was holding its other arm out of the way and elbowed it in the face. It took the hit like it was nothing and looked over at Hank while it continued to try and break Connor's neck.

A once-over was all it took, the android kneed Hank right in his bad rib and then stomped his injured foot. The man roared in pain, letting the android's arm go involuntarily. He stumbled back, but returned with the knife in his hand.

Connor managed to take it out at the knee and twist out of its grasp before it could crack his head off like a bottle cap. Hank lunged at it while it was distracted, it dodged the knife and disarmed Hank, but he landed his torso along its back and shoved it with a few forceful steps to the other side of the lowering door. It was just over halfway closed, just above Connor's head.

They went to the ground in the next room over, the android rolled so it landed on top of Hank and drove its elbow into his injured rib with its full weight. Hank screamed in pain.

Connor ducked under the blast door, since it was now lower than his height, and he ran to the android, grabbing one of its legs and yanking it away from Hank. It swept his legs with its free foot, knocking him over.

Now loose, it made a mad dash for the doorway, already reaching for the console with its bare plastic hand. Connor took hold of its ankle and pulled it back. It glared over its shoulder at him in apparent anger.

The door was about two thirds of the way closed.

Hank saw Connor take his look-alike to the ground and begin wrestling, so he went the opposite direction, toward the gun resting just a little ways off.

He heard a cry behind him just as he scooped up the rifle and turned to shout "Stop!"

The two androids stood to look at him, identical in practically every way. The door behind them still slowly shutting. Hank jogged nearer, the two Connor's also edging toward the door. One wanted to survive, the other wanted to reopen the doors so the attack bots could kill Alice and the others before they could accomplish their part of the plan.

Considering the power hadn't gone out yet, they needed the time, and Hank needed to figure out who the real Connor was, and fast.

As if he could read his thoughts, the Connor on Hank's right shoved up his sleeves and retracted the synthetic skin. The other Connor looked confused, but Hank stepped just a little closer and looked at the serial numbers on the two limbs.

They didn't match, the two arms had come from separate Connor models. Meaning this Connor was the one he'd repaired with his own two hands, his Connor.

Hank turned to shoot the other Connor, only for it to shove the real Connor into him and make a mad dash for the lowering blast door. Hank recovered quickly and shot it twice, once in the body and once in the leg. It fell and began crawling forward, trying to get to the other side. There was only a foot or so of clearance, and Hank watched forlornly as it just got its head through and was promptly crushed at the shoulders by the lowering barrier.

It twitched and flailed horribly before finally stilling, cut cleanly at the place where the door had come to rest flush with the ground. They had stopped it and closed the doors.

Hank turned to face Connor, breathing heavily, and looked sadly into his eyes.

They were trapped on the wrong side. All around them were attack bots that were going to awake and kill everything nearby in…Hank checked his watch…just under five minutes.

Connor was on his knees, his arms limp as he stared at the door.

"There's no way out, is there?" Hank asked, even if he already knew the answer. Connor shook his head. Hank nodded bitterly. "Figures."

"I'm so sorry Hank." Connor breathed, his voice pitching with static. He curled in on himself, lowering his face into his hand and going very still.

"Hey, hey, it's not your fault." Hank muttered, moving over to sit next to the android. Connor looked up, cheeks wet with synthetic tears.

"This is all my fault, every analysis reveals that if it wasn't for me, you wouldn't be here. If I hadn't been assigned to you, or if I hadn't deviated, or if you had chosen to allow me to be replaced, or had allowed Kamski to—" Connor rambled, his eyes moving back and forth as if he was reading the information from an extensive list.

"That's enough." Hank interrupted, placing a hand on Connor's shoulder. "What did I say about guilt?" The man reminded him. Connor looked up at him.

"I've taken everything from you." The android said. Hank felt everything in himself crumple like paper soaked in water, and he brought his hands to Connor's shoulders, one of them bracing the android's neck.

"Connor, you've given me more in the last three days than I've had in the last three years." He whispered. "I've got people to care about and causes to fight for, I've actually got a reason to live."

"But now we're going to die." Connor muttered, reaching up to clutch Hank's forearm.

The man realized suddenly that Connor hadn't even been alive, not really alive, for any time at all. He'd only just come into this world and Cyberlife was going to rip him out of it. Pushing down the rising sorrow and anger, Hank reached deep inside for that voice he'd once used to comfort his son on nights when the winds and snows of a blizzard would frighten him so much he couldn't sleep.

"Don't think about that, think about the good parts of living we've had so far, and how, because of us, other people, other androids will get to have that too." Hank comforted him.

The android's LED spun yellow.

"Alice has opened the door to the computer console, she's just waiting for Markus and the others to blow the power supply." He said. "They were attacked on the top floor, Simon was severely injured but he's still alive. They're nearly through."

Hank would have liked to hope that the bots would be destroyed before it was too late, but he knew that wasn't going to happen.

"Luther says he saw a single self-driving car making its way toward the tower, there's been no other traffic besides that."

Hank nodded and stood up, Connor followed him to his feet. He checked his watch. Three minutes, forty-seven seconds.

"We put up a hell of a fight Connor, I don't regret it, I sure as hell don't regret meeting you." Hank said, looking Connor in his eyes and smiling with as much strength as he could muster.

Connor smiled back and after a brief pause, the android lurched forward and buried himself against Hank. The man stumbled as a pair of strong arms wrapped around him, but a moment later he returned the gesture, pulling Connor as close as he could. The android's face was against his chest, a slight dampness growing there, and Hank's hand was at his neck, bracing him while the man dropped his head onto Connor's shoulder.

They stood like that for a long moment, breathing away the fear and the sadness and the anger in one another's embrace. Hank felt something that he figured was as close to peace as he'd ever know. He was surprised by the fact that, for the first time in a while, he didn't want to die, but also surprised because what he now had to live for, he was also prepared to die for.

Hank could only hope Connor would get to come with him when he saw Cole again.

Hank became rather abruptly aware of the fact that Connor was moving the two of them closer to the wall. It was slow at first, enough that Hank hadn't even noticed, but the android was picking up the pace. Confusion dawned slowly in Hank's mind. He didn't want to pull away from the hug, but he leaned back a little.

"What're you—?" He tried to ask, but Connor grabbed hold of him and shoved him against the wall, pinning him there. "Hey!" Hank shouted reflexively, taken aback by the sudden aggression.

Too late, far too late he realized what was happening.

Connor's arms shot forward and impaled the wall on either side of Hank's head. Below him, the android's feet did the same into the ground. It seemed to happen in the blink of an eye, yet when he replayed the memory a moment later Hank could have sworn it took years. Connor's synthetic skin vanished, his hair disappearing, leaving that somewhat sad, white plastic face gazing at Hank with teary determination.

Hank had enough time to mutter a single "no" before the paneling all over Connor's body opened and adjusted to fill in the spaces between the android's limbs and torso. With a soft whirring and clicking, they began settling in place, forming a solid barrier between Hank and the attack bots, composed entirely of Connor.

"No, no no no!" Hank cried, jumping into action, pounding on the newly formed walls with all his might as he was trapped inside the fortress of Connor's emergency shield function. The android coffin. The panels everywhere on Connor's back had moved to the front, sealing Hank away and keeping him completely safe from the danger outside. Externally, Connor's biocomponents were completely exposed, out in the open.

"No! Connor you son of a bitch!" He shouted. "Let me out of here!"

"I'm sorry Hank." Connor choked out. It was completely dark inside of the coffin except for the dim glow of Connor's LED washing the plastic a dull red.

"Fuck you!" Hank screamed, his body aching from exercise and injury as he expended the last of his energy pushing uselessly against the walls. He took to punching everywhere he could find room to pull his fist back and strike somewhere away from Connor's face and body. His knuckles began to bleed, staining Connor's paneling as he sobbed angrily.

The punches devolved into blind strikes, practically limp slaps as Hank begged Connor to let him out.

"Don't, don't do this Connor." He said, throwing his hands weakly against the sides a few more times. "Please, don't do this." He pleaded, sliding down the wall slightly on his shoulder. There wasn't enough room to go all the way to the floor, he and Connor were practically nose-to-nose, but he curled in as much as he could and wept. His teeth were clenched so hard he felt they might crack, his hands clutching the fabric of his own shirt, his breaths coming in wet, sharp, and short.

Hank's eyes were screwed shut as he shook, trying desperately to keep quiet and keep fighting, all that escaped was hisses and strangled whimpers. Connor could only watch, unable to move, as tears rolled down his own face.

"I'm so sorry Hank." Connor spoke, silently begging for the man to look at him. Hank did, catching his breath and leaning his back against the wall.

"Don't do this to me, not again." The man pleaded, and Connor looked at him imploringly.

"I won't allow you to die Hank."

"Why not?" The man asked, his breath knocking loose a few teardrops on his lips.

"For the same reason you carry around Cole's notebook and still look for him on the days of the year you have free." The android explained. "You're everything to me Hank, there's no price I would not pay for your life."

 _They exist_ _I'm willing to die. So that humanity So that you may live._

Hank shook his head, but reached one hand up to run it along Connor's cheek. He choked back more tears. If this was it for Connor, he wanted to be strong for him. He wanted the android to know he wasn't alone.

"I'm sorry Connor, I wish I could do more." Hank muttered hoarsely.

"Tell me about Cole." Connor said suddenly.

"What?"

"Hearing you talk about him, it makes me feel something, but I'm not sure what it is yet." Connor explained.

"Oh, uh, alright, what would you like to hear?" Hank asked, scrubbing a hand roughly over his face, trying to regain some composure for the android before him.

"Something funny." Connor requested softly, and after a moment, Hank smiled wearily.

"Alright, something funny." He chuckled hoarsely. "I know you're still upset about hurting me before, but I'm telling you, Cole got me worse once." Hank said with a watery smile and Connor raised the arches where his eyebrows had been. "He was at the playground one day with a friend, they hung out after school for a little while on the days when I couldn't get out of the station early enough to pick Cole up. So I drive up to the playground, and they're on the swings, Cole and his friend, uh, Lucille was her name, and they're trying to see who can get up higher. So I hop out of the car and go up to them, they're giggling and having the time of their lives, then Cole just shouts 'Daddy! Catch me!'" Hank's eyes went wide and his hands came up as he recreated the memory. "He didn't hesitate, just chucked himself right off the swings and at me, stiff as a board, just soaring through the air. I was so surprised I didn't know what to do, so I just ran up to where he was to catch him." The man settled back against the wall with a snort. "He nailed me in the face with both feet, and he was wearing heelies. Knocked me right over." Hank made a sound to imitate that of him falling to the ground, then he lifted his chin and thumbed something under his beard. "Eleven stitches, right here on my jaw. He felt so bad about it he insisted upon treating the wound every day until it was better, even tried making me breakfast in bed to apologize." Hank's eyes softened. "Me, I was just glad he fell on top of me instead of on the ground."

It started low, but a moment later Hank was sure of it, Connor was laughing. It was soft and clearly unpracticed, but the smile on the android's face was unmistakable, and the shielding shook ever-so-slightly. Hank couldn't help it, he smiled back and started laughing too.

It couldn't last though, and Hank checked his watch. Just over a minute, that was all that was left. Connor's LED was yellow now.

"Power's out." The android informed him.

"How long until Chloe gets that virus going?" Hank asked.

"It will take at least ten minutes." Connor informed him, and Hank struggled to hold onto the warmth of the moment before, because the cold hand of dread was wrapping around his heart.

"Any luck figuring out what that emotion was?" Hank tried, his voice cracking as he sought desperately not to count the seconds down. Connor smiled, his LED finally settling into a calm blue. The inside of the coffin was blanketed in the gentle hue, including Hank's face. He was working to keep a smile there, but his lips were pressed together to keep from quivering.

"Yes, I think so." Connor said. "I think it's l—"

The android's eyes went wide, the pupils suddenly widening and shrinking sporadically and asymmetrically like glitching camera lenses. His mouth fell open in shock and a few tears dripped from his cheeks.

Hank was suddenly, agonizingly aware of the noises outside of Connor's shield. Horrible pounding on the walls and the thudding of thousands of plastic feet.

"No, no Connor." Hank begged, reaching up with both hands to hold the android's face. Connor fought to keep his eyes on Hank, fighting so Hank's face would be the last thing he saw. "Please, don't go." Hank said, his voice struggling to break through the hiccupping sobs clogging his chest. Connor tried to smile, thirium dripping from his lips as the coffin shuddered with external impacts.

It was no use, a moment later and the comforting blue of Connor's LED faded into nothing and Hank felt the android's body go stiff and cold beneath his palms.

"Connor." He tried, running his thumb along the jaw. Blue thirium ran along his bloodied knuckles.

"Connor?" He tried again. The darkness was suffocating, and the noise outside was deafening. Occasionally the shield would be wracked by a hard impact or two, but the attack bots couldn't get in. Hank was safe, but he could only imagine the mess of parts in Connor's back. The thirium pump, or the oxygen intake system he felt like he had only just replaced.

"…Connor?" Hank tried again, his voice breaking. He was hoping beyond hope that there was some loophole where Connor came out of this alive, but there came no answer. Only the darkness and the thunder of the machines outside.

"Connor!" Hank cried, and he began pounding on the walls once again. If nothing else, so he could destroy a few of those fucking bots before they tore him to shreds. He screamed horribly, his voice stifled in the small chamber as he beat against the barriers and tears streamed from his eyes.

Just this one life. Hank thought to himself. Just this one. He didn't care how replaceable or worthless or disposable anyone thought androids were, he'd give anything for just this one life. Just let him live.

Time ticked by, Hank stood in that darkness. He'd alternated for a while between beating against the shield and curling away from it in an attempt to fold so far into himself that maybe he could compress the sadness into nothingness. Eventually, Hank's head began to ache, his lips and eyes swollen. He leaned back and took to checking his watch. Half to see how much time had passed, and because the pale green glow would light up Connor's face for just a moment.

It didn't have the synthetic skin, and seeing Connor so clearly blank and gone was agony. But that face didn't go away in the darkness, it just became a thousand times worse. Bloodier than it was, more mutilated, somehow more reminiscent of Cole. So Hank flicked the watch on and looked at Connor. When the light went out, Hank would press the button again, willing Connor to wake up and smile. Willing him to wake up and list off useless facts. Wake up and do annoying quarter tricks.

Wake up.

Wake up.

Time passed, Hank was so tired.

The room outside fell silent after ten minutes, just like Connor had said. So now there was only the darkness and the silence and the green glow of Hank's watch on Connor's face. Please wake up.

Minutes later Hank registered the sound of grinding metal, it was distantly familiar. Then footsteps.

There was a crunching sound and light filtered in from Hank's right. He heard voices, also familiar. A few sets of hands pried Connor off of the wall, disengaging the shield protocol. He fell to the ground, limp. With the last of his power gone, Connor's paneling fell away and he looked a little more like himself. No skin, bare bones, mangled plastic and thirium stains, but still undeniably Connor.

Hank slid to the ground as soon as he was free. The dim, white auxiliary lighting stinging his eyes after so long in the dark. He heard a few soft gasps and finally his eyes focused on the people who had come for him.

Simon was held up by North, down one arm and one leg. Both were covered in red and blue blood and staring down at Connor's body in dismay. Markus and Kara had been the ones to pry him from the wall. Markus was struck with disbelief while Kara's hand pressed over her mouth and tears flooded her eyes. Chloe was a little ways back, her face unsettlingly frozen in blank horror.

Alice stepped forward, her eyes sparkling and her lip trembling. Kara was by her side in an instant, pulling her closer as they were all forced to fully realize what they were looking at.

Hank dragged himself over to the body and pulled it into his lap. He had only gotten one chance to hold Connor while he was alive, so he pulled him close now and ran his hand over where the android's hair would have been, as if to brush it out of his face.

"What happened?" Kara asked, her voice strangled. Hank shook his head and never took his eyes off of Connor's face.

"There was another Connor android, it attacked us. We stopped it, but ended up on the wrong side of the doors." Hank explained, his throat rough. "He activated his shielding function, protected me from the attack bots, but he…" Hank couldn't finish. He curled in and held Connor's face to his chest.

All around them, the bodies of the attack bots were contorted and stiff, like petrified remains.

Hank didn't want to cry in front of anyone, so he kept his back to them as he rocked back and forth with Connor in his arms. He was surprised when he felt a small figure of warmth at his back.

He turned to look, and it was Alice, sniffling and wrapping her tiny arms as far as they would go around him. Chloe placed a comforting arm on Kara's shoulders and North and Simon clung to each other and Markus.

All of their LEDs turned yellow.

"Luther says that the police are on their way here." Kara spoke up. No one moved. "Hank, we need to go." She stated apologetically.

"I know." He rumbled, and picked up a quarter from the ground, thumbing it gently and slipping it into his pocket. He scooped Connor's body into his arms. They made their way together to the elevator. Hank carrying Connor, North carrying Josh, Kara carrying Alice, Markus at the front and Chloe at the rear.

The elevator seemed to take an eternity, and Hank hated how easy it was to lift Connor's body, how tiny and fragile he felt. The doors opened and they stepped out, only to be greeted by the last face anyone wanted to see.

Elijah Kamski.

For a moment, the man wore the same smug expression and overly relaxed posture, only now he was clothed in something other than a robe. However, when he looked up and opened his mouth to speak, he saw Connor and promptly shut up.

Chloe shoved her way to the front of the group, immediately on the defensive. Kamski's arms went up to placate her.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Hank growled.

"I came to witness the conclusion of your Cyberlife takeover, and offer my help." He explained.

"We don't want your help." Chloe snarled, stepping forward menacingly, causing Kamski to flinch backward.

"I wouldn't be so sure." He replied smoothly, though he was clearly on edge. "You've prevented your immediate replacement, I'm here to tell you that you can make the situation more permanent."

"How?" Markus demanded. In the distance, there was the sound of approaching sirens.

"Simple, Cyberlife has committed a litany of crimes in the last week. Bring this information to light and buy yourselves the time you need to ensure your safety from humanity's destructive tendencies." Kamski explained.

"And where do we get evidence of all this? Do you have it?" Simon asked sharply.

"No, he does." Kamski gestured to Connor's body. "His memories will provide more than enough proof."

"It's too fucking late you piece of shit." Hank spat from between ground teeth. Kamski cocked his head and considered the android's body.

"Perhaps not." He said.

"Come again?" Hank growled, stepping forward and barely suppressing the urge to beat Kamski within an inch of his life. Instead of replying, the man walked forward and reached for Connor's head. Hank pulled the android away and Kara stepped up to glare furiously at Kamski.

"All Cyberlife prototypes are equipped with a kind of vault for the storage of information. It's a backup for sensitive files, a waterproof, bulletproof, inaccessible drive where data is stored in the event of the android's incapacitation." The man rattled off. "This makes it so other parties cannot steal new technologies from Cyberlife."

Hank dared to hope, squinting at the other man as he reached behind Connor's head and removed a small, black device. He held it up and examined it.

"The android is only allowed to backup data that Cyberlife approves. New code, schematics, passwords, that kind of thing. But if Connor's deviancy was as extensive as I think it was, then he may have stored his memories in here."

"We had some time, before he was…" Hank trailed off, Kamski dismissed it with a wave of his hand.

"It's not just a matter of downloading files, he would have had to go into his code and fundamentally alter what this system considers vital information, changing it from Cyberlife's tech designs to all recorded memories and maybe even the deviated aspects of his AI." Kamski explained. "It would have taken hours to do."

Hank's heart dropped.

"But it's worth a shot, considering that without the evidence in Connor's memories you'll all probably be destroyed by Cyberlife once they've reproduced their latest model. You've bought yourselves time but not security"

Everyone regarded Kamski's cold attitude with disgust and fear.

"Do it." Hank commanded, and with a small smile the other man turned his back on the group and began walking. "Where are you going?"

"That body is useless Mr. Anderson, I'm going to look for a more intact RK800 model. Make yourselves useful and distract the police while I work." Kamski called over his shoulder before stepping into an elevator. He winked as the doors closed.

Right on cue, the sirens drew up beside the doors and the flashing red and blue lights of police cruisers filtered into the lobby. The group exchanged glances as they heard the sounds of approaching footsteps.

Hank held tight to Connor's body and stood to face the small armed group of officers. They raised their weapons, greeting the androids and Hank with shouts of "freeze!" and "don't move!"

A long moment passed as the androids wearily gazed at the police, not sure if this was the moment where everything they'd fought for would come to nothing.

"Stand down!" A gruff voice ordered and Jeffrey Fowler shoved his way to the front of the group. "Hank! What the fuck!?" The man demanded, stepping over to the man in question, his face lined with confusion and worry.

"Jeffrey…" Hank started to say, but the words died in his throat. Under Fowler's intense gaze he could only glance down pitifully at the android in his arms. Jeffrey followed his eyes and caught on immediately, his face softening as he understood.

"Weapons down." The police chief commanded, and the others complied. Hank looked gratefully at him, but the man only winced. "I'm sorry Hank, but you know what we have to do."

Hank shook his head wearily. "Ten minutes Jeffrey, that's all I'm asking." He pleaded. Fowler's lips thinned and he looked ready to turn Hank down when someone in the back of the crowd of police officers spoke up.

"Chief, I don't think we should take them out of here until we've searched the building." Gavin Reed called out, shoving his way to the front, Theo not far behind him. Fowler regarded him suspiciously. Reed fidgeted under his scrutiny and glanced up at Hank nervously. Theo's eyes were glued blankly to Connor's body. "You know how deviants are, they're good at hiding and waiting for the worst moment to sneak up on you." Gavin stepped closer and whispered.

Theo snapped his attention away from Connor and looked over at Detective Reed, concealing a slight smile. Fowler nodded pensively then shoved a finger in Hank's face.

"Ten minutes." He growled, then turned to the rest of the officers. "Spread out and search the area, make sure there's nobody left to make this shitshow any worse." He shouted. Afterward he glanced over his shoulder and spotted Alice. He cleared his throat nervously and shoved his thumbs into his belt, mildly ashamed of having cursed in front of a kid.

During the wait Gavin and Theo interviewed the androids. Mostly Theo since he made them less uncomfortable. Almost entirely Theo, as Gavin had tried to talk to North then been frightened into sulking in the corner.

Fowler spoke to Hank and learned about the possible evidence against Cyberlife that might be in Connor's memories. Overall, Hank was a jumbled mess waiting for Kamski to come back. His leg was bouncing and he was sliding the quarter from one hand to the other nervously. It was very warm by the time Fowler gave up on asking him questions.

Hank jumped to his feet the moment he saw Kamski emerge. The police all rounded on him and drew their weapons. He put his hands up and stepped to the side of the elevator.

"Is that Elijah fucking Kamski?" Fowler asked, Hank didn't care to answer, he was on his feet and staring intently at the open elevator door. He couldn't see inside from his angle, but he was hoping against all hope.

Connor walked shakily out, looking confused and distraught. A few officers recognized him and lowered their guns. Then the android caught sight of Hank.

For a split second, the man was terrified that this shiny, new-looking Connor would have no recollection of him, that he'd be just a machine like when they'd first met, but then Connor was practically running at him. They collided and Hank hugged him tight enough he hoped the android could feel a little bit of the crushing agony of the last hour. At the same time, Hank just wanted to keep feeling the light buzz, the soft breath, and the general aliveness of Connor as close as he could get it.

A moment later, they were joined in their hug by, unexpectedly, Simon. Connor started back, as did Hank, but North joined them a moment later and pried the android away.

"He's lost a lot of thirium." She explained.

"I'm so glad you're ok." Simon whimpered.

"He'll be back to normal soon." North reassured them, guiding the stunned android back over to Markus. The leader smiled with proud relief at Connor. Alice then latched onto Connor's leg, Kara stepping over to wrap her arms around his shoulders and pull him close as well. Chloe smiled from his side.

"I think I may like hugs." Connor muttered from inside Kara's tight embrace. She laughed and pulled away, holding his shoulder at the end of her reach and smiling brightly.

"Stop right there!" A few police officers near the door shouted suddenly.

"That will be Luther, I'd better go make sure they don't hurt him." She said, tugging Alice away as well. The girl waved to Connor and Hank as she followed Kara. They waved back.

"Great, he's alive, now you're all under arrest." Fowler grumbled.

The ride to the station was long and tense, as was the time spent in interrogation rooms. Hank refused to be separated from Connor, and the android was still shaken from his brush with death. Not only was he jumpy as all hell, but he was adjusting to his new body.

No one said much of anything about their Cyberlife takeover. Kamski was the only one who didn't clam up, instead he rambled endlessly about the future of android-human relations.

In the end, Connor connected with Theo and transferred every memory he possessed involving crimes Cyberlife had committed. Including, but not limited to, the attempted murder of Hank Anderson. It was a lot of data, more than enough, Fowler assured them, to force the company to call back their thugs and cease production of the replacement androids.

"It's too early to say, but without many other options, people might just have to get used to androids who feel." Jeffrey mumbled to Hank.

"It's easier than you think." Hank assured him.

They were all left in cells, but after almost an hour, some mysterious and inexplicable glitch in the system released the locks on the doors. While the rest of the station was busy in a debriefing, Hank and the androids slipped away.

When they emerged outside, the sun was rising, basking the snow-covered landscape in long shadows and golden light. The air was cool and crisp, and for that moment it seemed like everything might just turn out alright.

 _Fuck me._ Hank thought to himself. He couldn't believe it, he was feeling almost optimistic.

Simon, Markus, North, and Chloe left for the factory, eager to inform the other deviants about the possibilities ahead. They half carried one another as they walked, but Hank could see that they were holding one another too close for it to be simply support.

Kara, Alice, and Luther took a car to search for a safe place to live in peace. Luther said he'd heard about a woman who might help them. Hank saw them hugging each other tightly next to their vehicle, eyes shut as they basked in the warmth of their little family.

Hank slid into his car, Connor joining him in the passenger seat, and they drove for home.

It wasn't a quiet drive home. There was the rumble of the engine and the rubber of the tires on the road. There was the rattling of the crap in the car and the groan of the heater as it blasted air through the vents. There was the sound of Connor breathing, and Hank breathing too. It was its own kind of music and Hank thought it was as good as any heavy metal he'd listened to.

They pulled in front of Hank's house. The roof was blanketed with snow and the windows were reflecting the bright light of the sun. Hank thought the place had never looked more beautiful. He stumbled up to the door and fumbled with the keys, barely managing to get them inside.

He blinked heavily and suddenly Connor was helping him into his bed. He was so fucking tired, it had been a long fucking week, he was going to sleep like nobody's fucking business. Sumo was showering him with kisses, so excited that the man was home safe and sound.

Connor sat on the edge of the bed and Hank grabbed his wrist, holding it tight.

"It's really you, right?" Hank asked.

"It's me." The android reassured him. "My arms match now though." He said. Hank snorted.

"When did you decide to back up your memories? Kamski said it took hours." The man wondered.

"At the factory, after you told me about Cole and fell asleep." Connor answered and Hank nodded in understanding.

"Did you figure out the emotion? The one you said you felt when I talked about Cole."

"It was love, obviously." Connor explained.

"Obviously." Hank repeated sarcastically, but warmth bloomed in his chest like a long sip of something sweet, hot, and rich.

"Get some rest Hank." The android insisted. Hank nodded, but clung tight to the other's wrist and asked him to stay.

"Someone has to walk Sumo." Connor said. Hank grumbled but closed his eyes, his exhaustion beating out his stubbornness.

Connor waited for his breathing to even out, then took Sumo out for a long walk in the morning light. He breathed and laughed and enjoyed the freshly fallen snow.

When he got back, he sat on the floor next to Hank's bed, rested his torso on the edge of the mattress, and took the man's hand. Sumo settled in at Hank's back. There they remained, Hank snoring into his pillow, Sumo shedding all over the sheets, Connor analyzing the particulars of the dirty plate on the bedside table. They rested in that moment, knowing it would pass, that many others would come after it, good and bad, but every one of them worthwhile, every one of them irreplaceable.


	11. Epilogue

"Hank, can we talk?"

It was an innocuous enough question on Connor's part, but that didn't stop Hank from scowling up at him suspiciously.

"What's it this time?" The man asked. It was a fair question, Connor could want to talk about any number of things. Markus' ongoing battle for legislation regarding android protection and production, the gradual decline of Cyberlife, a letter from Alice (she'd drawn them some nice pictures of their new house in Canada, cute little stick figures of her with Kara and Luther, they were on the fridge at home), some news about Chloe's progress in turning public opinion on her media tour, Hank's reinstatement with the Detroit Police Department, or his therapy, or his recovery from alcoholism, or his health in general, or just a question about some new symptom of deviancy that Connor was trying to navigate. It had been an extremely hectic four months.

The android shifted nervously, his coin rolling across his knuckles. They were at the station, Hank at his new desk.

"There's something I've been working on, for a while, something for you." He said, and Hank groaned, he hated surprises. Connor raised one hand defensively. "I only kept it from you because I wanted to ensure that my efforts were legitimate before getting your hopes up." The android explained, causing Hank's frown to turn to one of confusion. Connor looked a little lost for words before settling into a determined posture. "I think you should come with me, it will make this easier to explain."

Hank squinted at him, but assented nonetheless. He rose from his chair easily, grateful that all he had left of his injuries was a few scars and the memories, he'd really hated the weeks it took him to recover from his broken rib, Connor wouldn't let him do anything.

The android led him through the halls and into one of the interrogation rooms, where two familiar individuals were waiting. One seated at the table, the other standing with a hand on her shoulder. Hank had to stop and stare, the two androids staring back.

They were the Tracis from the Eden Club, alive and well and smiling tentatively up at Hank.

"Hank, I'm sure you remember these two." Connor said, gesturing to them.

"How could I forget, how are you doing?" Hank asked, stepping forward and offering his hand. The orange-haired Traci shook it and let out a breath.

"We're doing well, thank you." She said, her girlfriend stood up and shook Hank's hand as well.

"I'm glad to hear it, what are you doing here?" Hank inquired, throwing Connor a befuddled glance.

"Connor contacted Olivia and I a few months ago, asking for our help." The blue-haired Traci replied, Hank took a mental note that the orange-haired one went by Olivia now.

"Help with what?" He asked.

There was a long pause while Olivia and her girlfriend looked to Connor, who squirmed a little, taking his quarter out of his pocket and putting it back again. Hank started to feel a little nervous just as Connor spoke up.

"After the incident at the Eden Club, I did some research on the individuals responsible. I knew, with the tech they possessed, that they had to belong to a larger trafficking operation. At the time there wasn't much I could do with the information I discovered, but in the recent months I've been looking further into the case. I contacted Olivia and Diane to see if I could learn the final destination of other kidnapping victims." The android elaborated.

"We weren't part of it for long, and weren't told much, but we wanted to do whatever we could." Diane, the blue-haired android said.

"With their assistance, then the additional resources of the DPD following your reinstatement, we located the leaders of the trafficking ring and the records of the lives they traded in." Connor continued.

"So why didn't you include me in any of this? I could've helped." Hank stated, planting his hands on his hips in mild irritation. Connor shared a look with the two other androids in the room before replying.

"I wasn't just investigating for investigation's sake. I had a suspicion, well, more like a hunch, that came from information I had learned about you and things you had told me, and I was looking for one person in particular." Connor said the last part very slowly. "I wanted to be sure before I told you, in case I was wrong."

"But now we know for certain." Olivia finished. Hank looked around the room expectantly, waiting for an answer. Connor took a deep breath and turned to look the man fully in the eyes.

"One of the names we found in the records of humans sold to other nations as part of the population trafficking scheme…was Anderson, Cole Anderson."

Hank felt like the entire room disappeared around him, taking his heart, lungs, and legs with it. His eyes grew wide and before he even realized what was happening, Diane had eased him into a chair. A moment passed where he remembered how to breathe and focus his eyes.

His ears weren't ringing, but his mind had gone so terrifyingly blank in shock that those words seemed to echo until they were all he could hear. Connor was still speaking, Hank had to work to register any of it.

"I suspected he had been kidnapped in the accident when you described it to me. I wasn't sure if the same people would have been responsible, but I knew there was a chance. I didn't want to give you hope only to have it taken away, so I waited." The android explained nervously.

"Do you know where he is?" Hank whispered brokenly.

"We discovered where all the victims were sold to and the DPD passed the information to Interpol. They took the investigation over and so far have recovered just under a hundred people." Connor crouched down so he could look better into Hank's face. "There was a large group of children found together in Spain. They were passed off as orphans in order to artificially boost the nation's childbirth rates, they are in the process of transporting these Children back to the United States."

Hank's heart was pounding in his chest but he didn't dare take a breath in order to supply his rushing blood with oxygen.

"Your confirmation is required, but they believe one of them is Cole." Connor finished and Hank sucked in air like he'd never get another chance. He clutched at the android's arms to anchor himself, looking with wide eyes into his friend's face. Connor smiled hopefully, and Hank, even though he felt ready to pass out, smiled back.

He reached for the androids behind him, grabbing Olivia's hand and squeezing it. He looked up into the teary faces of her and Diane and mouthed "thank you" since he couldn't find his voice at the moment.

He turned to Connor and did the same.

It took time, more time than Hank would have liked, to clear the children through customs and reach out to all of the people they thought were their parents. After three years in another nation, voluntary or not, and most of them being presumed dead, it was a paperwork nightmare. So many were taken in staged car accidents just like Hank's, though usually the parents were taken too, Hank had been left behind due to his injuries.

When the day came, the airport waiting area was crowded with people. Mostly families waiting to reunite, some of the parents had been recovered sooner or had been spared being kidnapped at all. Hank was there with Connor. Kara, Alice, and Luther had insisted upon visiting as soon as they heard the news. Olivia and Diane were also there, holding hands excitedly and introducing themselves to everyone. They were waiting outside the main area along with Markus, Simon, North, Josh, and Chloe, who had all taken short breaks from their work to offer support. North was holding the leash for Sumo, who was a little agitated by all the people but largely just excited about all the new smells. They'd gotten a lot of stares when they walked in. Hank wasn't sure what people thought when they saw him chatting with the leaders of the android revolution, he didn't even know what to think of it most of the time.

Hank had received lots of letters and emails prior to the day from people who couldn't be there. Rupert and the androids he was helping recover from the Pit, they'd been corresponding since the success of the Cyberlife takeover. Plenty of androids who'd been at Jericho that Hank didn't know all that well. Even fucking Kamski (who Hank had not told, but, of course, found out anyway).

Since enough of the kids had been taken from the Detroit area, they were returning through the Detroit Metro Airport. The DPD was out in full force to make sure everything was safe.

Hank was surprised to spot Gavin Reed among the protection detail, he'd asked Fowler, who'd also come to offer support, and apparently the Detective had volunteered. Hank made eye contact with the man, who shied away in disgruntled embarrassment, but it only made Hank crack a small smile. Theo's presence was less surprising.

Only Connor had been allowed to join Hank in the area where the kids were soon to arrive, partly because he had helped to find them, partly because Hank would have lost his mind if he had to do this alone.

He was standing, eyes wide and forward on the grey carpeted hall where the previously missing children would be arriving any minute. He didn't want to take his eyes off of it for a moment, not even to check his watch. He was hardly breathing, the late afternoon light was a golden orange pouring through the wide airport windows. Connor laid a hand on his arm, and Hank took a steadying breath and focused on that hand.

A tiny eternity later, the first figure of a kid rounded the corner, escorted by a group of Interpol officers, some human some android. The entire waiting group breathed in and tensed as the full crowd of children came into sight, Hank felt the air was thick as glass with desperate hope.

The first shout of recognition was simultaneously a wonderful relief and a knife to Hank's heart. Someone pulled a little girl into their arms, both parties crying and holding each other tight. Hank was so happy for them, but what if their happiness was a happiness he'd never know? There was still a small seed of doubt.

What if Cole wasn't there?

Connor pushed Hank forward through the rising chaos of the crowd. All over people were reuniting with their children, the room was loud with joyful weeping, elated laugher, and names being called that hadn't been spoken in far too long. Hank was rising on his toes to search over the heads of the people around him.

What if he wasn't here? What if he was gone? Just like he'd been gone three years ago.

Hank stumbled forward, only Connor's touch keeping him grounded, giving him the strength to keep looking. More and more people found their children, it was probably a beautiful sight, but Hank was looking through it, looking for that beautiful face with the crooked smile and the big brown eyes and the messy hair.

Oh god, what if he wasn't here? Hank had lost him for so long, this was more than he'd ever hoped for, but what if he wasn't here? What if—

"Hank." Connor breathed, and pointed to a gap between two reunited families, gripping Hank's arm like a vice.

Hank followed the android's gaze, and there he was.

Three years older, a little taller, but Hank could never forget that face. Those brown eyes were searching for him too, the little hands clutching the hem of his shirt, he was bouncing on his toes nervously.

"Cole." Hank muttered, for a second he couldn't move. "Cole!" He shouted and the boy looked up at him. There was that crooked smile, and there was that messy head of hair, longer now.

Hank didn't even register his legs carrying him, all he knew was a moment later he was on his knees and his son was in his arms. He was holding Cole against his chest and he was so alive. The little boy was squeezing Hank as tight as he could and saying "daddy" over and over again, crying against Hank's shoulder.

Hank was crying too, but he felt as if his face would split from how hard he was smiling. Cole was alive and in his arms.

Hank opened his eyes at last and pulled Cole away a little bit to look at him. He smiled at his son, wiping the tears from his face and mussing his hair. Cole giggled, and damn if it wasn't the most beautiful sound Hank had ever heard.

Just behind Cole, Hank spotted Connor.

He scooped his son into his arms and stood up, earning another giggle and the satisfaction of knowing Cole wasn't yet too big for Hank to lift him, he hadn't missed that much time. He still fit perfectly in Hank's arms. He turned so the boy could see Connor.

"Cole, this is Connor. He helped find you." He said, sniffling and trying to control his cracking voice.

"Thank you Connor." Cole said, holding tight to his dad and looking a little shy. Connor smiled at him, and Hank noticed a little glimmering wetness on his cheeks.

"Connor's been keeping me safe while you were gone." Hank said.

"Yeah?" Cole asked.

"Yeah." Hank replied with a smile.

"Is Connor gonna keep me safe too?"

"If you want." Connor replied, looking at Hank for confirmation. The man grinned.

"Of course." Hank answered. The android smiled and Cole reached out with one arm to beckon him closer. Connor leaned in and Cole wrapped his arm around his neck for an awkward hug, Connor chuckled and returned it.

"You can share my room if you'd like." Cole offered, and Connor laughed again, pulling back.

"That won't be necessary." The android replied.

"Connor already has a spot at the house." Hank explained.

"Is Sumo there?" Cole asked suddenly, his eyes going wide and locking on Hank's face.

"Sumo's here, with some of daddy's new friends outside." Hank said, causing Cole to start bouncing excitedly in Hank's arms.

"Let's go!" The boy exclaimed.

"Ok," Hank agreed and started walking toward the exit, "everyone's excited to meet you, and Sumo missed you a whole lot." He said, gazing at Cole like he could scarcely believe the boy was there, eyes wide and watery and happy.

"Is there ice cream at home?" Cole asked, and Hank snorted.

"No, but my friend Simon baked you a cake." Connor answered, Hank and Cole both gasped and stared at him.

"A cake!" Cole exclaimed, and Connor nodded with a smile.

Hank held his son tight as they exited the room. As soon as the doors opened he saw the small crowd of androids and humans all look up and collectively light up like the sun emerging from beyond the horizon. Luther and Kara looked overjoyed, and Alice was thrilled, Hank spotted a wrapped gift in her hands. Olivia and Diane pulled one another close in a side hug. Markus smiled wider than Hank had ever seen, North squeezing one of his hands and Simon pulling the other to his chest, Josh gripping his shoulder. Sumo jumped to his feet and his tail began whipping back and forth in excitement. Chloe reached for the nearest individual with a gasp, which happened to be Theo, and he placed his hand on hers, both of them gazing at the boy in Hank's arms with wonder. Even Gavin and Fowler were happy, it looked odd on them, but not bad.

Hank smiled, reaching to the side and grasping Connor's shoulder as he carried his son. He was so excited to introduce Cole to this big, new family he'd found.


End file.
